UK's Johnson: Climate deal sounds 'death knell' for coal

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has hailed the U_N_ climate summit in Glasgow as a “game-changing agreement” that sounded the “death knell for coal power."

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the U.N. climate summit as a “game-changing agreement” that sounded the “death knell for coal power” on Sunday -- although he added that his delight at the progress on fighting climate change was “tinged with disappointment.”

Johnson said it was “beyond question” that the deal coming out of the Glasgow conference marks an important moment in the use of coal because most of western Europe and North America have agreed to pull the plug on financial support for all overseas fossil fuel projects by this time next year.

But in a major shift demanded by coal-dependent India and China, the Glasgow Climate pact used watered-down language about “phasing down” the use of coal instead of “phasing out” coal. Johnson, however, said the compromise did not make “that much of a difference.”

Ending coal is seen as the key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which cause the Earth to warm up and produce rising seas and more extreme weather including droughts, storms and wildfires.