Nearly 200 nations reached a climate agreement on Saturday at COP26 with an unprecedented reference to the role of fossil fuels in the climate crisis, even after an 11th-hour objection from India that watered down the language around reducing the use of coal.

The COP process has tried and failed for years to include an acknowledgment that the climate crisis has been caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Coal is the single biggest source of greenhouse gases and phasing it out was a key priority of COP26 President Alok Sharma.

But despite that progress, the text doesn't reflect the urgency expressed by international scientists in their "code red for humanity" climate report published in August. Rather, it defers more action on reducing fossil fuel emissions to next year. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported the world needs to roughly halve emissions over the next decade.

Visibly teary after a long two weeks, and following marathon talks that went late into the night Friday, Sharma formalized the agreement with strikes of a gavel. He orally made India's requested amendment, changing the text to a phasing "down" of coal as opposed to a phasing "out."

The text also includes language around moving away from fossil fuel subsidies.

Sharma earlier told delegates he was "infinitely grateful" for "keeping 1.5 alive," referring to his overarching goal to contain global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Scientists say that limit is critical to avoid worsening impacts of the climate crisis and to steer away from catastrophic climate change.