G20 leaders vow ‘mid-century’ carbon neutrality as Cop26 summit gets under way

Italian premier Mario Draghi told the leaders going into the final working session that they needed both to set long-term goals and make short-term changes to reach them

A power plant fires coal from the nearby Garzweiler open-cast mine near Luetzerath, western Germany (Martin Meissner/AP)

Leaders of the world’s biggest economies made a compromise commitment to reach carbon neutrality “by or around mid-century” as they wrapped up a two-day summit that was laying the groundwork for the UN climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

According to the final communique, the Group of 20 leaders also agreed to end public financing for coal-fired power generation abroad, but set no target for phasing out coal domestically, a clear nod to coal-dependent countries including China and India and a blow to Britain which had hoped for more solid commitments ahead of the Glasgow meeting.