China, the world's largest polluter, has called for less ambitious climate change goals aiming to keep warming to 2C – in opposition to the aims of the Cop26 climate summit.

       Xie Zhenhua, Beijing's climate negotiator, said a 2C target should be the aim and suggested achieving 1.5C was too difficult for many nations.

       "If we only focus on 1.5, we are destroying consensus and many countries would demand a reopening of the negotiations," told the BBC

       The Paris Agreement, signed in 2015, commits more than 190 countries to keeping the rise in mean global temperature to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels and "preferably" limiting it to 1.5C.

       The UK, EU, US and others have signed up to the goal of 1.5C, with the UK Government making the aim of Cop26 to "keep 1.5C alive".

       But the summit has not secured the necessary commitments from big polluters such as China or funding from major economies such as the US – leaving warming on track to rise by 2.7C.

       British Cop26 officials have expressed frustration at a "lack of leadership" from Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, who declined to attend the summit and instead sent a written statement.

       Mr Xie said China had "already been making our biggest possible effort to address climate change", adding: "So regarding the fact that China is the current largest emitter, it's because China is at a special development stage."

       He has also been critical of the failure of developed countries to deliver on a pledge of $100 billion in annual climate financing until at least 2024, three years after its deadline.

       Following the remarks, Joe Biden, the US president, said Mr Xi's non-attendance had "been a big mistake".

       "The rest of the world are going to look to China and say: what value are they providing?" he said. "They've lost an ability to influence people around the world and all the people here at Cop, the same way I would argue with regard to Russia."

       Boris Johnson called on China to go further on its climate targets, urging Beijing to ensure that emissions in the country peak by 2025 rather than the current target of 2030.

       However he declined to criticise Mr Xi for not attending Cop26, saying it had been due to the complications caused by the Covid pandemic.

       On Tuesday, Mr Johnson launched a global agreement between 35 countries to help poorer nations access cheap electric cars and wind turbines to make green technologies the "go-to".

       Green groups said the deal's commitments to move towards fossil-free steel, which covers 32 per cent of the global production, undermined the case for the controversial deep coal mine planned for West Cumbria. More than 80 per cent of the coal is intended to be exported for steel production.

       Roz Bulleid, the deputy policy director at Green Alliance, said the Government should invest in clean steel to avoid losing out to global competitors. She said it "must make the right decision on the Cumbria coal mine, which could end up obsolete as most of the world looks set to switch to cleaner fuels".

       On Monday, Mr Johnson said he was against new coal, but that the establishment of the coal mine was a local issue.