China and India must explain themselves - COP president

China and India will have to explain themselves to climate-vulnerable nations, COP26 President Alok Sharma has said as the summit ends.

It comes after the two nations pushed for the language on coal to change from "phase out" to "phase down" in the deal agreed in Glasgow.

But Mr Sharma insisted the "historic" deal "keeps 1.5C within reach".

It is the first ever climate deal that plans explicitly to reduce coal - the worst fossil fuel for greenhouse gases.

Mr Sharma said the deal struck in the Glasgow climate pact was a "fragile win" and urged China and India to "justify" their actions to nations that are more vulnerable to the effects of global warming.

He told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "I am going to be calling on everyone to do more.

"But as I said, in relation to what happened yesterday, China and India will have to explain themselves and what they did to the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world."

Mr Sharma said that his role was to "build consensus" on the final deal.

He added: "I wouldn't describe what we did yesterday as a failure - it is a historic achievement."

The world is currently 1.2C warmer than it was in the 19th Century. One of the main goals set out by COP26 was to ensure we do not go above 1.5C by 2100.

The climate summit had to go into overtime for the deal to be agreed and came to an end late on Saturday.

Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize winner and women's rights activist, said on the Andrew Marr Show that "leaders must prioritise people and the planet over profits".

A recent report by the Malala Fund organisation suggested that four million girls would be missing out on education due to global warming in 2021.

The report showed that girls from low and lower-middle income countries were prevented from going to school due to preventable natural disasters like floods and droughts.