As it happened: Climate deal agreed with last-minute change on coal

After two long weeks of diplomatic back-and-forth, the Glasgow Climate Pact has been agreed.

It has been labelled everything from historic and aggressive to fragile and disappointing.

The measures are some of the strongest seen in the past 30 years of climate talks. Rich nations agreed to double the amount of cash they'll offer to vulnerable countries, and for the first time fossil fuels were mentioned in a COP agreement.

But even if every government sticks to its promises, the world will still face a temperature rise of about 2C, which would lead to devastating impacts all over the globe. The overall consensus from delegates was that it was better to have an imperfect deal than no deal at all.

Before we say goodbye - here are some of the most memorable moments from the past fortnight:

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As you can imagine, reaction is continuing to pour in to the Glasgow deal.

EU leader Ursula von der Leyen has shared a statement on Twitter praising today's agreement as "a step in the right direction".

She says that the deal "sends a clear message time is up for fossil fuel subsidies and unabated coal". (That means coal produced without carbon capture technology.)

"If all long-term commitments announced in Glasgow will be implemented, we should keep global warming under 2C," she adds.

"So we need to work further – so that next year’s climate conference in Egypt puts us firmly on track for 1.5C."

The difference between a world that warms by 2C instead of 1.5C in terms of climate impacts is significant. At the higher figure, many more people would face extreme heat, all coral reefs would be destroyed and flooding would be even worse.

A little bit more from John Kerry now. Asked how he will convince critics that the agreement represent urgent action, the US climate envoy says they should read it first, before saying it's a failure.

"The reality is that what’s happened here is significant," he says.

"Did I appreciate that we had to adjust something tonight in an unusual way? No," he adds, talking about the change to a line in the agreement about coal, which was pushed for by China and India. "But you have to make tough decisions in this business sometimes."

US climate envoy John Kerry says the majority of the 20 largest economies in the world - which are responsible for 80% of emissions - are committed to reaching the 1.5C global warming target.

He says Glasgow gives a clear blueprint for "what we need to do" from now until 2050.

He admits some people "may have wanted even stronger language" but says the text that has been agreed to has the first ever mention of coal.

Kerry goes on to say that this "is the beginning of a 10-year sprint".

On the US-China agreement announced earlier in the week - which contained few concrete measures - he says it was announced "with a view to producing a reduction in emissions".

"We are the two largest economies in the world and we are going to work together to raise climate ambition in this decade," he says.

There's been a lot of reporting on how India pushed for the language on coal to be weakened, but China was very strongly pushing for it behind the scenes, our reporters in Glasgow say.

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After a day of high emotion, tension and drama, at times, the mood has lightened here.

There’s a frenzy of activity as delegates spill out of the plenary hall and journalists furiously file pieces to camera.

Others are packing up their kit, knowing we’re meant to leave within a few hours of the gavel falling for the last time.

This slice of UN territory – for the fortnight the conference lasted – is quickly being returned to Scottish soil. Staff are cleaning, packing up boxes, and moving tables and chairs.

On the way in this morning, everyone was taking pictures, wondering if this would be the last day. It’s hard to believe it is – and that the Glasgow Climate Pact has finally become a reality.

We're now hearing from US climate envoy John Kerry, hot on the heels of Alok Sharma.

He says it was always unlikely that the summit in Glasgow would result in a decision that "was somehow going to end the crisis".

“Paris built build the arena, and Glasgow started the race. Tonight the starting gun was fired," he says, referring to the Paris climate agreement in 2015.

"As a result of what took place here... nations that have never considered having the word 'coal' in a plan... it's on the books – it's part of the decision."

He adds that "you have to phase-down coal before you can end coal".

"This is the beginning of something," he says.

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When asked about the "heartbreaking" stories of poorer and island nations and how they are being affected by climate change, Sharma says he understands their disappointment with parts of the agreement.

"What was important was to get a deal over the line, and that all the hard work... was not going to dissipate," he says, defending the late compromises.

Asked about the tense and seemingly fraught discussions in the summit's final hours, Sharma declines to go into detail about the back and forth that took place between negotiators.

But he adds: "Anyone who has seen footage of the conversations can make up their own minds about how I felt."

Quote Message: I'm sorry we couldn't hold the original language on coal, but nevertheless we do have language on coal and I think that is a start." from Alok Sharma COP president

I'm sorry we couldn't hold the original language on coal, but nevertheless we do have language on coal and I think that is a start."

In response to a question, Alok Sharma, who has led this summit, says he wishes the 11th hour watering down of the agreement on coal had not happened.

But he says, "we do have language on coal, on phase-down" and that no-one would have thought that line would have been retained at all earlier in the summit.

The line calling for the "phase-down of unabated coal" and an end to "inefficient" fossil fuel subsidies is unprecedented in a COP agreement, experts say, even if it was weakened.

Alok Sharma calls the agreement a "fragile win" and says that the hard work starts now.

"We have kept 1.5C alive – that was our overarching objective... But I would still say that the pulse of 1.5C is weak."

He was asked about the moment he became emotional during the formal plenary.

"I’ve had about six hours sleep in the last three days," he says, adding "it is emotional, collectively as a team we have achieved what many people doubted."

It's been a long, long day and the COP president is now facing the press.

He says he's had six hours sleep in the last few days.

Stay with us for updates.

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Sohanur Rahman, 25, is a founding member of Bangladesh’s Friday for Future movement, leading youth activists in the country as they face the dire effects of rising sea levels and flooding.

As the Glasgow agreement was gavelled, he told me that youth were recognised for the first time at COP, but “the end result is nothing”.

He feels helpless and betrayed going back to Bangladesh with this agreement and says the "empty pledges" won't protect anyone from the climate crisis.

He does not believe it will limit the global temperature rise to 1.5C, despite what politicians say. "We have no scope to hold them accountable," he explains.

He welcomes the good news on loss and damage - an acknowledgment from rich countries that poor nations need support paying for impacts of climate change they can't adapt to.

But the voices of the most affected people were silenced, he says - “the interest of the fossil fuel corporations have been clearly pandered to by the UK COP presidency.”

Tina Stege, climate envoy for Marshall Islands, has sent us her reaction to the deal. Her highly vulnerable Pacific Island country is at risk of being wiped out by climate change.

She says last-minute changes to the wording on coal and the weakened language on loss and damage are "blows".

Quote Message: There was a conversation we were not a part of and it was a real blow.. We had been told that there would be no further changes to the text and we had already swallowed some changes that were difficult to swallow." from Tina Stege

There was a conversation we were not a part of and it was a real blow.. We had been told that there would be no further changes to the text and we had already swallowed some changes that were difficult to swallow."

But the "real progress made" in Glasgow is a "lifeline" for her country and it should not be discounted, she argues.

Stege is pleased that money on climate finance was secured. And she says it's positive that countries are being called on to submit new targets to reduce emissions next year.

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Disappointment being expressed with the final pact is "understandable" after key issues were "watered down in the final hours", Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says.

However, the SNP politician adds there "can be no doubt" the negotiations in Glasgow have led to improvement on some key areas.

Quote Message: While there has been much positive progress, there is no escaping the fact that COP26 has not delivered as much as global south countries, activists and campaigners rightly demanded and I firmly believe that the leaders of the rich developed countries must go further." from Nicola Sturgeon

While there has been much positive progress, there is no escaping the fact that COP26 has not delivered as much as global south countries, activists and campaigners rightly demanded and I firmly believe that the leaders of the rich developed countries must go further."

While he may not be enthused with the deal, Shadow business minister - and former Labour leader - Ed Miliband has nothing but praise for Alok Sharma.

He says Sharma, a Tory MP and minister of state at the cabinet office, has shown himself to be a "person of decency, integrity and commitment".

Throughout the afternoon, the COP26 president has been seen flitting between various delegations, discussing the text and working to get the deal across the line.

COP President Alok Sharma is still inside the conference hall, but he is expected to give a news conference when the official proceedings are done.

The lectern is ready, flags and all, along with 100 journalists waiting for him outside the hall.

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India, along with China, pushed for the last-minute change to "phase down" rather than "phase out" coal.

But why?

India - the world's third-largest emitter of fossil fuels - still relies heavily on coal, which makes up 70% of the country's energy production.

A big part of their position can be summed up by comments from India's environment and climate minister Bhupender Yadav earlier.

He asked how anyone could expect developing countries to make promises on phasing out coal when they have still to deal with their development agendas and eradicating poverty.

On top of that, four million people are employed in India's coal industry - and in the last decade the country's coal consumption has nearly doubled.

It continues to import large quantities of coal and is planning to open dozens of new mines in the coming years despite pledges to invest massively in renewable energy.

An average Indian still consumes far less power than a Brit or an American.