At the world climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, a commitment to phase out coal energy failed to receive support from important countries such as China and the USA.
Nevertheless, the British Minister for Economic Affairs, Kwasi Kwarteng, spoke of a "milestone" on Thursday.
He announced that “the end of the coal” was in sight.
As the government of the host country also announced, 18 countries agreed for the first time to phase out their coal-fired power plants and not to invest in new ones.
These include countries such as Poland, Vietnam and Chile.
More than 40 countries committed to phasing out coal altogether in the 2030s for major economies and in the rest of the world in the 2040s.
However, major coal users such as China, the US, India and Australia did not join the agreement.
Energy generation from coal is the single largest factor in global warming.
The environmental organization Greenpeace criticized the agreement as inadequate.
"The fine print seems to give countries considerable leeway to choose their own exit date, despite the dazzling headline," said delegation leader Juan Pablo Osornion of the BBC.
On the other hand, the project of more than 20 countries and institutions to end the financing of fossil fuels and instead to invest in green energies was welcomed.