G7 seeks to remove fossil fuels, but without a deadline – 04/16/2023 – Environment

The Energy and Environment ministers of the G7 countries agreed this Sunday (16) to accelerate the move away from the use of fossil fuels, but without setting a new deadline for the gradual elimination of polluting energy sources, such as coal.

In a statement issued after two days of meetings in northern Japan, ministers from the world’s seven largest economies proposed actions to keep global warming below the 1.5°C threshold.

“We emphasize our commitment in the context of the global effort to accelerate the phasing out of fossil fuels to achieve net-zero energy systems by 2050 at the latest,” the ministers said in a statement after meeting in Sapporo, northern Japan.

The group offered no new deadline beyond the one adopted last year, when it proposed to phase out much of the use of fossil fuels in its electricity sectors by 2035.

France’s Energy Transition Minister Agnès Pannier Runacher said the call for a “phasing out” of fossil fuels was a “firm step forward” ahead of the upcoming G20 and COP28 summits. .

The United Kingdom and France proposed eliminating coal from the G7’s energy mixes within the current decade, but the goal was rejected by other members, such as Japan and the United States, who cited pressure on energy supplies caused by the War in Ukraine.

The G7 is under pressure to show unity and step up its actions, following the latest and alarming report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published last month.

According to the IPCC, global warming caused by human activity will raise average temperatures by 1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial era of 2030-2035.

plastic pollution

Ministers also announced a goal to end plastic pollution in their countries by 2040.
“We are committed to ending plastic pollution, with the ambition to reduce further plastic pollution to zero by 2040.”

Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union are already part of an international coalition that committed to this goal last year. It is the first time, however, that the United States, Italy and Japan have joined this objective.

The challenge is great. The amount of plastic waste has doubled in the last 20 years, and only 9% of it is recycled, according to the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development).

Several NGOs feared that the ministerial meeting would lead to a setback in terms of climate commitments, mainly due to the conservative positions of the host country.

Highly dependent on fossil fuel imports, Japan wanted to take advantage of the occasion to claim new investments in the gas sector in the name of “energy security”, amid the upheavals arising from the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In 2022, the G7 decided to tolerate gas investments as an “interim” response to “exceptional circumstances” related to this conflict.

Sunday’s statement includes similar approaches but also sets out several parameters around these investments, highlighting the “primary need” for a reduction in gas demand.

The G7 also reaffirmed its commitment to work with other developed countries to raise $100 billion a year for emerging countries to combat global warming. The promise dates back to 2009 and was to be fulfilled by 2020.