“While regretting that a more ambitious consensus was not possible, particularly with regard to fossil fuels, the reduction of emissions, the deadlines to achieve the limited goals under discussion, the financial support for less developed countries, to adapt to the changes that are there and mitigate the effects for their peoples, the President of the Republic welcomes the small steps taken by COP26 in Glasgow, which still represents a timid advance in the fight against climate change", reads a statement released on the official website of the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic.

The 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) formally adopted a final declaration with a last-minute amendment proposed by India that softens the call to end the use of coal.

The change was proposed by the Indian Environment Minister, Bhupender Yadav, who at the closing plenary of COP26 asked to change the wording of a paragraph defending the progressive end of the use of coal for energy production without measures to reduce emissions.

The proposal ended up being approved by the president of the summit, Alok Sharma, who said that he "deeply regret the way this process took place".

The final approved document, which will become known as the Glasgow Climate Pact, preserves the ambition of the Paris Agreement, reached in 2015, to contain the increase in global temperature by 1.5ºC above the average levels of the pre-industrial era.

UN Secretary General António Guterres commented on the agreement reached in Glasgow warning that despite "welcome steps forward, the climate catastrophe continues to knock at the door".