G7 summit: what emerges

Vaccins, pandemic prevention, climate emergency, Russian and Chinese threats: these are the main conclusions of the G7 summit in Cornwall.

Getting out of the pandemic

The G7 has promised to distribute “more than a billion doses” of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of 2022, according to Boris Johnson, either directly provided (870 million doses) or through funding. This will bring its total commitment since the start of the pandemic to two billion doses. France has assured that it will double its promise, increasing it to 60 million doses by the end of 2021. The leaders also called for a further investigation by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the origin of Covid-19 in China. Beyond that, it will be a question of providing the means to prevent other health disasters, by increasing vaccine production capacities and improving detection systems. The goal is to be able to develop tests, treatments and vaccines in less than 100 days, compared to 300 for the coronavirus pandemic.

Accelerate on the climate

The great powers want to accelerate the pace, without always giving themselves precise objectives. They support the idea of ​​a “green revolution” creating jobs and limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees, a threshold beyond which scientists believe that climate change will get out of hand. The G7 countries pledge to become carbon neutral by 2050 at the latest and to reduce their CO2 emissions by 50% by 2030, compared to 2010.

They are in favor of stopping by 2021 funding for coal projects to produce electricity that would not use technologies (CO2 capture and storage) to reduce their emissions. And they want to move faster in banning new diesel and gasoline vehicles, and in transitioning to electric vehicles.

On biodiversity, the objective is to preserve or protect at least 30% of the land and the oceans by 2030. The G7 reaffirms the objective of the developed countries to mobilize 100 billion dollars per year of public and private funds of by 2025 to help the energy transition of poor countries.

Infrastructure plan

The great powers want to help developing countries, whether it be on climate, health, security, digital technology or equality. They promise concrete proposals in the fall, for a project seen as a response to China’s influence on poor countries, via its “New Silk Roads” investment project.

At the same time, the G7 would like to be able to mobilize 100 billion dollars to help disadvantaged countries, especially in Africa, to bounce back from the pandemic, by redirecting part of the new issue by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of 650 billion dollars of special drawing rights (SDRs).

China and Russia

The G7 called on Beijing to “respect the human rights” of the Muslim Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang region and Hong Kong, while willing to cooperate with Beijing when “it is in the mutual interest”. US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron took care just after the conclusion of the summit to clarify that the G7 was not in “conflict” with China. The G7 calls on Moscow to “cease its destabilizing activities”, including interference, to respect human rights and to “hold account” of those responsible for cyber attacks from its soil.

Democratic values

The G7 intends to represent democracy, freedom, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights. He insists on the defense of gender equality and wants to provide education to 40 million young girls, by mobilizing at least 2.75 billion dollars.

Taxes

Leaders have supported a fairer international tax system. This is what their finance ministers proposed last week, via a global minimum tax of at least 15% on companies, and more effective taxation of digital giants.

Olympic Games

The G7 supports the holding of the Tokyo Olympic Games (July 23-August 8) which had been postponed for a year due to the pandemic. The leaders want the event to be “a symbol of global unity to overcome the Covid-19”.