A historic United Nations deal to
end the use of coal power was
watered down last night after a dra-
matic last-minute intervention
from China and India.
Alok Sharma, the president of
Cop26, was reduced to tears as he
apologised to delegates for the way
the late change was made.
The deal, dubbed the Glasgow
climate pact, had been set to
include a pledge to accelerate the
“phase-out” of coal power but this
was switched late on to “phase-
down”. The change in wording
lessens the urgency with which
countries are required to reduce
the use of coal, the world’s strong-
est driver of climate change.
Before he banged down the
gavel on the pact, the tearful
Sharma told delegates: “I apolo-
gise for the way this process has
unfolded. I am deeply sorry.” The
representatives of 197 countries at
the summit responded with a
standing ovation.
António Guterres, UN secretary-
general, said the deal was “an
important step but not enough”
and it was “time to go into emer-
gency mode”. He added: “We are
in the fight of our lives.”
The pact also includes an agree-
ment to end “inefficient” subsidies
for fossil fuels and a commitment
to submit stronger climate targets
November 14, 2021 · Issue no 10,288 · thesundaytimes.co.uk £3 · only £2 to subscribers (based on 7 day Print Pack)
Sunday newspaper of the year
MAGAZINE
MY FRIEND
GHISLAINE
MAGAZINES
3 GREAT
STYLE
LUXURY
GIFT GUIDE
CULTURE
THE BEATLES’
LAST LAUGH
Team, whose purpose, documents
state, is to help airfields “engage
with the planning system”.
The team has lodged formal
objections to proposals backed by
the government to tackle climate
change and build more homes.
Hailed by Shapps as “crucial”, it
recently succeeded in persuading
the government’s housing agency
to pull plans for thousands of
homes on Chalgrove airfield in
Oxfordshire.It has also objected to an electric
battery gigafactory in Coventry, a
£2.5 billion plan backed by Boris
Johnson to help Britain realise its
“net zero” commitments. In a let-
ter, it argued that plans must be
“aviation centric” and that the air-
port was “very busy at the moment
with recreational flying”. Last
night Shapps, 53, acknowledged
he had used the airfield.
The team is staffed by individu-
als brought in from the privatesector, including a consultant with
“ten years’ experience in lobbying
organisations”.
They are based within the Civil
Aviation Authority, which
appeared to distance itself from
the lobbying last night, saying: “As
the funding organisation, the
Department for Transport is aware
of all the airfields that we engage
with.”
It can also be revealed that
Shapps, who says he has “alwaysbeen hooked” on flying, has dedi-
cated £2 million to a scheme for
airfield operators to gain free
access to private consultancy. The
scheme, run by a Texas-based
firm, gives airfield operators tai-
lored advice, including on how to
oppose planning applications.
He has separately funded a
scheme to subsidise navigation
equipment for recreational pilots,
with government sources last night
admitting the DfT had spent£1.1 million on it so far. Shapps uses
tech made by one of the businesses
involved and knows its owner, who
was appointed an OBE last year.
Asked if Shapps had nominated
Keith Vinning for the honour, a DfT
source said: “We do not comment
on the selection process for nomi-
nations.”
The minister also faces ques-
tions over whether he lobbied to
avoid a ban on a highly toxic and
dangerous fuel used by privateplanes, including his own. Asked
by an aviation lobbyist if he could
delay such a move last year,
Shapps responded via email say-
ing: “On it.”
In an unusual move, British reg-
ulators have since diverged from
the EU in deciding not to ban the
chemical. A government source
said the move was designed to give
pilots time to adapt.
The disclosures pose freshThe aeroplane-owning transport
secretary is spending public
money on lobbyists opposing the
government’s own plans to build
on private runways, including one
he has himself used.
Grant Shapps, a recreational
pilot who owns a £100,000 air-
craft, created a secretive unit last
year called the Airfield Advisory
Gabriel Pogrund and
Emanuele Midolo
Minister for private jets ‘lobbying against his own government’
Continued on page 4→by the end of next year in an
attempt to limit global warming to
1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
Sharma said the summit had
kept “1.5 alive” but added: “Its
pulse is weak.”
India’s environment and climate
minister, Bhupender Yadav, had
fiercely opposed the coal phase-
out, telling delegates: “Developing
countries have a right to their fair
share of the global carbon budget
and are entitled to the responsible
use of fossil fuels within this scope.
In such a situation, how can any-
one expect that developing coun-
tries can make promises about
phasing out coal and fossil fuel sub-
sidies?”
The UK — and Sharma in particu-
lar — had made ending coal power
a central goal of the Cop26 presi-
dency. It is the first time in nearly
30 years of UN climate summits
that all nations will have explicitly
agreed to reduce the use of coal.
The wording “phase-out” had
survived intact through four differ-
ent drafts of the pact but the Chi-
nese delegation felt it could notIndia and China
thwart Cop deal
to abandon coal
Ben Spencer
Science Editor
Sharma in tears at last-minute summit ambush
back the phrase as it would not be
in keeping with its latest five-year
plan, which puts no end-date to the
use of coal to generate power. With
the Glasgow Cop already running
more than 24 hours behind sched-
ule, in a huddle on the floor of the
plenary the US brokered a deal
with China and India to soften the
wording.
Jennifer Morgan, executive
director of Greenpeace Interna-
tional, said: “It’s meek, it’s weak
and the 1.5C goal is only just alive,
but a signal has been sent that the
era of coal is ending. And that mat-
ters.”
Vulnerable nations expressed
fury at the change — particularly as
negotiations on compensation for
the damage caused by climate
change were kicked down the
road. The representative for Fiji
told delegates: “What we would
like to express was not just our
astonishment but our immense
disappointment in the manner in
which this has been introduced.”
The Swiss environment minis-
ter, Simonetta Sommaruga,
strongly criticised the proposed
change, calling it “watered down”.
But scientists last night wel-
comed the deal despite its weak-
ened form. Professor Piers Forster
of Leeds University said: “The
Glasgow climate pact is not perfect
but it is a good progression and
strengthens the Paris agreement. It
Continued on page 4→y(7HA9F6*LNSTRN( |||+&!\'
INDEX
This week News 2
Weather News 31
Letters News 26
Sudoku News 30
TV & Radio Culture 29Alok Sharma, president of the Cop26 summit, was emotional last night as he told delegates of the change
of wording to the climate pact following late interventions by the two biggest coal-burning nationsTesting firm
can profit
from sale of
Covid swabs
A large Covid-19 testing provider is
being investigated by the UK’s data
privacy watchdog over its plans to
sell swabs containing customers’
DNA for medical research.
Cignpost Diagnostics, a govern-
ment-approved supplier trading as
ExpressTest, said it intended to
analyse the samples to “learn more
about human health”, to develop
drugs and products or to sell infor-
mation to third parties, company
documents show.
Analysis of sensitive medical
data can typically be carried out
only with explicit informed con-
sent. But customers booking tests
through expresstest.co.uk were
not clearly told their data would be
used for purposes beyond Covid-
testing. Instead they were asked to
tick a box agreeing to a 4,876-word
privacy policy, which links to
another document outlining its
“research programme”.
It is not clear how many samples
have been stored by Cignpost or
whether they have been sold or
used for any research so far, butShanti Das and
George GreenwoodPHIL NOBLE/REUTERSWAS COP
A FLOP?
ANALYSIS
PAGE 11
Continued on page 4→