‘Incredibly disappointed’ we couldn’t go further – UK’s Alok Sharma

The UK’s negotiator Alok Sharma, who of course presided over COP26 in Glasgow last year, has given his reaction to journalists here in Sharm el-Sheikh.

“I’m incredibly disappointed that we weren’t able to go further,” he told us.

He came here wanting to raise global ambition on urgently cutting the use of fossil fuels to limit global warming. That has not happened.

“We had to fight incredibly hard, relentlessly, it was like a battle, to make sure that we preserved what we got over the line in Glasgow,” he said.

There was strong push back from some countries, Sharma said. He said he’d told those countries they need to look climate vulnerable countries “in the eye”.

But he said developed nations wanted to keep the commitment to a loss and damage deal, which he calls historic.

The commitment to limiting global warming to 1.5C by 2100 remains in the agreement, but has slipped down the priority list in the cover text – the overarching agreement from the summit.

Sharma says: “I said in Glasgow that the pulse of 1.5C was weak. Unfortunately, it remains on life support.”