The deal announced late Saturday, ending two weeks of fraught negotiations between nearly 200 nations, pushes countries to do much more to curb climate-warming carbon emissions.
Adding to the pressure, financial services firms with around $130 trillion in assets have pledged to align their business with the net-zero goal.
For the first time, the deal saw countries acknowledge that fossil fuels were the main cause of climate change, and called for an end to “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies”.
The change in wording, following objections by India, China and other coal-dependent nations, was seen by developing economies as an acknowledgement that industrialized nations are mostly responsible for the climate problem.
The Glasgow talks have “drawn attention to the great opportunities arising from a different form of development — stronger, cleaner, more efficient, more resilient and more inclusive,” said climate economist Nicholas Stern.