New draft retains call for reduced fossil fuel subsidies; poor nations seek funds to tackle climate change UN climate talks ended with a deal that for the first time targeted fossil fuels as the key driver of global warming, even as coal-reliant countries, led by India, lobbed last-minute objections. While the agreement won applause for keeping alive the hope of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, many of the nearly 200 national delegations wished they’d come away with more. The negotiators at the COP26 summit here recognised India’s intervention for the world to “phase down” rather than “phase out” fossil fuels. After a huddle between the envoys from India, China, the United States and European Union, the clause was hurriedly amended to ask countries to “phase down” their coal use. “It is so decided,” said Alok Sharma, the president of COP26, as he declared the new pact with a stroke of his gavel after marathon talks which began earlier this month and conc...