The inconvenient truth is that the climate summit in Glasgow has failed

Editorial: The best that can be said for Cop26 is that the scale of the challenges, and the dangers, were once again brought home to world leaders and their populations

Climate activists take part in a demonstration outside Cop26 in Glasgow on Friday (AP)

“This is our time [...] We must rise to the occasion.” It is not yet entirely clear that Alok Sharma’s plea to the Cop26 summit will “keep 1.5 alive”. The secretary-general of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, says that this Glasgow target is “on life support”, which is hardly encouraging. Mr Sharma is fond, proud even, of his sobriquet of “No Drama Sharma”, but perhaps a slightly greater sense of urgency might have helped things along. Calmness and quiet diplomacy are fine, but not when they induce a coma.

Of course, that barnstorming call to arms was the principal job of the prime minister, but he wasn’t around for long enough to make success more of a certainty earlier on. No doubt another blame game for what the critics will call Flop26 will soon start up. At any rate it wasn’t such an auspicious outing for post-Brexit, “Global Britain”. On coal, cars, cash and trees, Mr Johnson’s key tests of success, there have been setbacks.

Phasing out fossil fuels, for example, could have been the landmark achievement of this conference but, once again there is not much evidence that all of the many large economies that still rely on selling or burning fossil fuels, or both, are ready to make that absolute – but absolutely clear – commitment. In the draft declaration there was a weakening on the language on hydrocarbons. Much the same goes for the timidity of the pledges on methane and deforestation.