Cop27 deal leaves 1.5C global heating pledge ‘on life support’, says Alok Sharma

The Cop27 agreement is seen as an important step forward in addressing the impacts of climate change, but many feel it has done little to limit global heating

Alok Sharma has said the ambition to limit global heating to 1.5C is “on life support” after a deal was struck in the early hours of Sunday morning at the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt.

“Friends, I said in Glasgow that the pulse of 1.5 degrees was weak,” he said in a speech at the closing plenary session of the UN climate summit. “Unfortunately, it remains on life support.”

The Cop26 president, who shepherded through the Glasgow Climate Pact last year, welcomed what he described as “historic” progress on the contentious issue of loss and damage, with an agreement on a fund to compensate vulnerable countries for irrevocable climate damage reached at the summit.