Climate activist Luisa Neubauer said the final declaration agreed on Saturday was a “betrayal.”

“It is a betrayal of all young people in this world who are relying on governments to take care of their future,” she told dpa.

The pact contained the first explicit mentions of fossil fuels in a UN climate agreement – calling for a “phase-down” of coal power – and agreed to get countries to strengthen their emissions-cutting targets for 2030 by the end of next year in a bid to limit dangerous warming.

It also called for the phasing out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.

Neubauer, a leader of the Fridays for Future movement in Germany and a Green Party member, said German representatives had stayed too passive at COP26, and called on the next government to execute the exit from coal, oil and gas power.

“Luckily, it is possible to change political decisions. And that is what we’ll do,” she said.

The head of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Johan Rockstrom, was more measured in his reaction.

“Before Glasgow we were on course for disaster, after Glasgow we are still on a dangerous course,” said the prominent Swedish scientist.

“It was a significant step forward, but by no means sufficient,” he told dpa.

The most important part of the Glasgow Climate Pact, he said, was the promise by countries to submit more ambitious plans to protect the environment by the end of next year.