The Glasgow summit left a huge hole in the world’s plans to curb climate change

AS COP26 FINALLY came to a close on November 13th, more than 24 hours behind schedule, the mood inside the drab temporary buildings erected to house it on the banks of the River Clyde was a mix of celebration and frustration. The painful reality suffusing the conference was that the world is failing to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, despite promising to do so in the Paris agreement of 2015. Yet the summit put a series of new procedures in place that keep alive the possibility of reaching that goal, if countries suddenly find it within themselves to embrace drastic measures.

In an admission that the goals set in Paris were not being met, the summit sought to speed up the fight against climate change in a number of ways. There was an unexpected, and eventually unanimous, call for a faster phasing down (though not out) of the “unabated” (ie, polluting) use of coal and for the scrapping of subsidies for fossil fuels. In a departure from previous COPs, a number of countries joined assorted “coalitions of the willing” to do their part to eliminate coal power, reduce methane emissions, make financial services greener, protect forests and more.