The move also undermined China’s joint statement with the US a day earlier, which said the two countries would work together for a successful outcome at the Glasgow meeting.

Ambitious targets

Getting countries to come back with more ambitious emissions cuts next year, rather than the usual five-year gap, is seen as the best hope of meeting the UK’s goal at the meeting to keep warming to 1.5C, the preferred aim of the Paris Agreement.

Scientists say the world is currently on track for 2.4C of warming, based on current policies to cut greenhouse gases.

But China, Saudi Arabia, India and many developing economies want to keep the focus on the less ambitious goal of 2C, and argue that they should not be asked to cut their emissions as fast as richer countries.

Diego Pacheco, chief negotiator for Bolivia, which represents the bloc which tried to remove the key section, said: “There is an historical responsibility of developed countries with the climate crisis, and in context they should take the lead in combatting climate change.

“We are very concerned with the narrative in the section of mitigation ambition. That’s why we requested to the presidency to remove completely the section on mitigation, because they are trying in that context to shift their responsibilities from the developed world to the developing world.”

Tanguy Gahouma-Bekale, the lead Africa negotiator, said he could “understand China’s position” and added that developing countries could not be expected to get rid of fossil fuels without being helped to move to alternatives. 

He said developing countries were being asked to pick up the slack, because rich countries have failed to cut emissions fast enough.

“We are far from the 1.5C, and that is because many developed countries did not respect their own commitments,” he said.

The disagreement set the stage for tense final negotiations, which Mr Johnson admitted this week would be unlikely to end as scheduled on Friday.

Mr Sharma said that talks to resolve funding issues “need to accelerate and they need to accelerate now”.

The US is among countries that have been accused of failing to contribute their fair share of funding, while the European Union reportedly attempted to block more funding.

Test for Boris Johnson

Critics and political supporters alike have said for months that the two-week Cop26 conference was a test of Mr Johnson’s leadership on the global stage.

One Tory source, who the Prime Minister is known to turn to for advice, admitted last month the possibility of the conference being seen as a failure had been significantly underestimated.