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LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Net zero emissions pledges and a commitment by leaders at the COP26 global climate conference to cut methane will push the world close to limiting global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday.
"New @IEA analysis shows that fully achieving all net zero pledges to date & the Global Methane Pledge by those who signed it would limit global warming to 1.8 C," IEA chief Fatih Birol wrote on Twitter.
Birol said the pledges meant the conference in Glasgow, Scotland, was approaching the goals of 2015 Paris agreement, which aimed to limit the global average temperature rise to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels and make efforts to limit it to 1.5C (2.7 Fahrenheit).
The Paris-based IEA, the world's top energy watchdog, this year predicted that no new fossil fuel projects beyond this year besides those already approved should be given the go-ahead to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
"A big step forward, but much more needed!" Birol added. (Reporting By Noah Browning; Editing by Alison Williams and Barbara Lewis)
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