A The major commitment to end deforestation by 2030 is the first “breakthrough” for Cop26, a minister said today, signaling a change of tone on the part of the UK government.

Joe Biden, Xi Jinping and Jair Bolsonaro, presidents of the United States, China and Brazil respectively, are among the signatories of the pledge today, which will apply to 85% of the world’s forests, and s ‘accompanies £ 14 billion in public funds. and private financing.

After several days of pessimistic warnings that the success of Cop26 was “touch and go”, the Secretary of the Environment today hailed the agreement as a change.

George Eustice admitted he “dreaded” the chances of reaching a deal, saying “we didn’t have it in the bag” days before Cop started.

Noting Boris Johnson’s pessimism as the summit nears, Mr Eustice told Sky News: “This is an important breakthrough, if you had spoken to me five days ago I would also have been worried about whether we would have gotten that deal on forests, but we did and it looks really encouraging. It’s a big step forward. “

He added: “If this continues it will bode well for Cop26 for the next two weeks.”

He predicted that big deals would be made “late at night” on the last day of the conference, adding, “These conversations are always complex, there are multilateral conversations going on.