G7 disappoints on climate progress without deadline on gas and coal use

Climate experts criticized the G7 group of advanced economies for failing to take tough action on fossil fuels after Germany and Japan prevailed on continued use of gas and coal respectively.

The G7 leaders, including the UK, US, France, Italy and Canada, said in their final communique that they committed to achieving a “fully or predominantly” decarbonised electricity sector by 2035, and called for an “accelerating” unabated coal phaseout. ” are doing. Power but failed to set a deadline for the latter.

Using the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resulting energy crisis, the G7 stressed the “important role that increased deliveries of (liquefied natural gas) can play”. It also said that “publicly supported investment in the gas sector may be appropriate as a temporary response to the crisis”.

Elden Meyer, a senior E3G ally, said Germany’s “insistence on greater public investment in gas production” and Japan’s “opposition to phasing out coal power generation” are undermining the G7’s leadership at a time when when it is desperately needed”.

E3G said the lack of a coal phase-out date and the inclusion of the word “mainly” caused Japan to fall behind its peers, as all other countries were taking concrete steps to go coal-free.

May Bowe, executive director of the campaign group 350.org, said the G7 countries “opted to remain on a fossil-fuelled collision course”. The Climate Action Network, made up of 1,900 civil society organisations, said the “weak commitments, riddled with loopholes” were an “unacceptable disregard of the growing warnings from scientists around the world”.

The ongoing dispute over energy policy among the G7 nations has also fueled growing criticism from other poor climate-sensitive countries, as major economies retreat from their climate goals.

A group of countries led by Chile, the Netherlands and New Zealand called on the G7 to lead global efforts to phase out fossil fuels and accelerate the rollout of renewables. “We must end the fossil fuel era,” he said in an open letter released Friday.

While G7 energy and environment ministers pledged to decarbonize the power sector by 2035 in talks ahead of their final meeting on Saturday, they were unable to set a timeline for phasing out coal as a result of Japan’s opposition.

The G7 host country is heavily dependent on coal, oil and gas following the 2011 tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster, and has pushed for a transition to clean energy that it describes as “realistic”.

The leaders said they would work toward “putting an end to construction” of new coal-fired power plants.

The lengthy final release noted the importance of improving energy efficiency and the need to “significantly accelerate” the rollout of renewable sources.

The leaders said fuels such as hydrogen and ammonia were identified primarily for use in sectors that were difficult to decarbonize due to their high energy needs, such as heavy industry and transport.

The group supported the adoption of international standards for calculating the carbon intensity of hydrogen. Hydrogen is considered “green” by using renewable energy, although it can also be produced using polluting gas and coal.

The G7 also noted that carbon capture and storage technology, which is largely unproven, could be key to decarbonizing heavy industry.

Widespread concerns about the security of supplies of critical minerals and technology needed for the transition to clean energy, and fears that China may seek to dominate, were also reflected in the final release.

Nations asked the International Energy Agency to make recommendations by the end of the year on diversifying supplies of energy, vital minerals and building clean energy.

Finance remains the outstanding issue for poor countries to tackle climate change, with the G7 saying it is committed to meeting a target of $100 billion per year in climate finance for developing countries this year. The UN pledge is from 2009 and is overdue.

In reference to China and oil-rich Middle Eastern countries, the G7 called on nations that “have potential and are not yet among the current providers of international climate finance” to begin contributing funds.

Under 30-year-old UN rules, countries such as China and Saudi Arabia are classified as developing countries, despite their economic growth.

On the private sector, the leaders supported the work being done by the International Sustainability Standards Board to develop climate-related disclosure rules for companies. The ISSB is expected to release the first set of standards in June. The “critical role of high integrity carbon markets and carbon pricing” was also highlighted.

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