Ministers of the world’s richest democracies today agreed to work to eliminate coal-fired power, although they could not set a date for it, and said energy shortages caused by the Russia-Ukraine war they must not derail efforts to combat climate change.
The commitment, announced at the end of the G7 talks in Berlin, is weaker than an earlier draft final announcement seen by Reuters, which set a goal of ending coal-fired power generation by in 2030.
Sources familiar with the discussions said that Japan and the United States have stated that they can not meet this limit.
However, it is still the first commitment of the G7 countries to give up coal energy. Coal is the fossil fuel with the highest carbon dioxide emissions and its use must be reduced in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
“The replacement of fossil fuels by Russia has dominated political debate and government action in recent weeks and months,” German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told a news conference.
“But it must be clear to us that the challenges of our political generation, to reduce global warming, will not go away if we just focus on the present,” he said. “Time is literally running out.”
The G7 also agreed to largely decarbonize their energy sectors by 2035 and to stop public funding for “fossil fuel” projects by the end of this year, except in a limited number of cases. The designation “undiminished” refers to power plants that do not use emission blocking technology.
The announcement refers to a commitment to a highly carbonated road transport sector by 2030, which includes a significant increase in sales, sharing and use of zero-emission light-duty vehicles.
The G7 also plans to start issuing public reports next year on countries’ performance in relation to an earlier commitment to end “counterproductive” fossil fuel subsidies by 2025.
Covering all fossil fuels, including oil and gas, the deal goes far beyond the G20’s promise last year to cut off coal-only funding abroad.
The G7 also pledged to take ambitious action against plastic contamination and to increase national efforts to preserve or protect at least 30% of their coasts and sea areas by 2030.
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
Source: Capital
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