COP26

Although countries only agreed to "phase down" rather than "phase out" coal, the prime minister said this was a fantastic achievement.

The wording change was made after a late intervention by China and India.

But it remains the first time plans to reduce coal have been mentioned in such a climate deal.

The agreement was reached after the two-week Glasgow COP26 summit went into overtime on Saturday.

Critics have said the deal does not go far enough and will not meet the key summit goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C by the end of the century.

Only a handful of female leaders including New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern are on the United Nations' climate panel.

The others include German chancellor Angela Merkel, Barbados' president Mia Mottley, Iceland's prime minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas and the head of UN Climate Change Patricia Espinosa.

Many governments claim that 45 percent of their COP26 teams are women.

The Chair of the Pacific Small Islands Developing States (PSIDS), the Prime Minister of Samoa, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa led the special meeting that brought together Pacific leaders and Ministers both in Glasgow at COP26 and those who participated remotely, unable to attend COP26 due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Disappointment was expressed by the Pacific with the slow progress made at COP26, a disappointment that resonated with the COP26 President Alok Sharma

The EU's Ambassador to the Pacific, Sujiro Seam, who's at the UN Climate Conference, said all stakeholders lobbied for an ambitious outcome and accessibility to climate funding.

Mr Seam said the EU will need to show the Pacific how best it can support the implementation of the recently adopted Climate Change Act.

"This is a package of available financing of 197 million Euros, almost 500 million Fijian dollars for the Years 2021 to 2027. This will be implemented in the countries of the Pacific with a very strong focus on climate change."

Surangel Whipps junior was speaking on the second and final day of the leaders summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

Because of the pandemic Mr Whipps is one of only four Pacific Islands leaders to make it to the climate negotiations, the others being Tuvalu, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

"Our resources are disappearing before our eyes and our future is being robbed from us. Frankly speaking there is no dignity to a slow and painful death. You might as well bomb our islands instead of making us suffer only to witness our slow and fateful demise."

In a video message, she said many people hoped the "time for words has now moved to the time for action".

She urged them to act "for our children and our children's children" and "rise above the politics of the moment".

The Queen added she took "great pride" in how her "dear late husband" Prince Philip promoted environmental issues.

The 95-year-old monarch had been scheduled to attend the United Nations conference in Glasgow. But she pre-recorded her address last week at Windsor Castle after being advised to rest following medical checks.

“My name is Moemoana Schwenke. Moemoana means ‘calm ocean’. I am here, at COP26, for the Pacific Islands, and for Samoa. In these places, the land, the ocean and the people have a heartbeat. They are like my roots that firmly ground my identity.”

“Yet now, this calm ocean is angry. It is violent, washing over lands that carry culture, washing over my ancestors’ burial grounds with the chance and fear of my people becoming climate refugees.”

A report by the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) showed carbon dioxide levels surged to 413.2 parts per million in 2020, rising more than the average rate over the last decade despite a temporary dip in emissions during Covid-19 lockdowns.

WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said the current rate of increase in heat-trapping gases would result in temperature rises "far in excess" of the 2015 Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average this century.