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Climate deal sounds the death knell for coal power - UK PM

14 November 2021 21:39 (UTC +04:00)

The Glasgow climate deal is a "game-changing agreement" which sounds "the death knell for coal power", Boris Johnson says, APA reports citing BBC.

Although countries only agreed to "phase down" rather than "phase out" coal, the prime minister said this was a fantastic achievement.

The change was made after a late intervention by China and India.

But it remains the first time plans to reduce coal have been mentioned in such a climate deal.

The agreement was reached after the two-week Glasgow COP26 summit went into overtime on Saturday.

Speaking at a Downing Street news conference, Mr Johnson said that despite the achievements of the summit, his reaction was "tinged with disappointment".

He said that those for who climate change is already "a matter of life and death" had demanded a high level of ambition and "while many of us were willing to go there, that wasn't true of everybody".

But he said that the UK could not "force sovereign nations to do what they do not wish to do".