Royal Society response to the COP26 agreement

"Some good progress has been made over the past two weeks, with some success in areas such as methane and deforestation, but the overall progress is not enough to limit warming to 1.5C. The science is clear on the dangers that we are still facing.

"We need to accelerate solutions such as cleaner electricity, transport and agriculture and find ways to take carbon out of the air. That path will require greater political will, greater ambition and greater investment in research and innovation.

"The alliances formed during COP26, including between the US and China – the world’s biggest emitters – must now be built on. COP26 must be seen as a launch pad for yet greater action over the year of the UK Presidency and beyond. This is a global problem and requires global collaboration between governments, scientists and businesses to tackle it.

"Greater investment in research and innovation is essential to delivering decarbonisation but today’s tech alone cannot deliver the agreed net zero targets. We need to go bigger, we need to go better and we need new ideas."

Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society

Explore more of the Royal Society’s key work on climate change