G-7 discusses ending coal, providing climate aid
Aims to end power sector emissions by ’35
BERLIN – Officials from the Group of Seven wealthy nations announced Friday that they will aim to largely end greenhouse gas emissions from their power sectors by 2035, making it highly unlikely that those countries will burn coal for electricity beyond that date.
Ministers from the G-7 countries meeting in Berlin also announced a target to have a “highly decarbonized road sector by 2030,” meaning that electric vehicles would dominate new car sales by the end of the decade.
And in a move aimed at ending the recurring conflict between rich and poor nations during international climate talks, the G-7 recognized for the first time the need to provide developing countries with additional financial aid to cope with the loss and damage caused by global warming.
The agreements, which will be put to leaders next month at the G-7 summit in Elmau, Germany, were largely welcomed by climate activists.
“The 2035 target for power sector decarbonisation is a real breakthrough. In practice, this means countries need to phase out coal by 2030 at the latest,” said Luca Bergamaschi, director of Rome-based campaign group ECCO.
Coal is a heavily polluting fossil fuel that’s responsible for a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans.
G-7 members Britain, France and Italy have already set themselves deadlines
to stop burning coal for electricity in the next few years. Germany and Canada are aiming for 2030; Japan wants more time; while the Biden administration has set a target of ending fossil fuel use for electricity generation in the United States by 2035.
A common target would put pressure on other major polluters to follow suit and build on the compromise deal reached at last year’s U.N. climate summit, where nations committed merely to “phase down” rather than “phase out” coal – with no fixed date.
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry called the agreements reached in Berlin “very comprehensive and forward-leaning.”
“I think it will help lay the groundwork for what has to happen at the G-20,” he told The Associated Press, referring to a meeting later this year of the broader Group of 20 leading and emerging
economies, who are responsible for 80% of global emissions.
Getting all G-20 countries to sign on to the ambitious targets set by some of the most advanced economies will be difficult, as countries such as China, India and Indonesia remain heavily reliant on coal.
Developing countries have for years demanded funds to cope with the destruction wrought by climate change. Until now, wealthy nations have resisted the idea for fear of being held liable for disasters linked to their emissions.
“But that recognition is not enough, they need to put actual money on the table,” said David Ryfisch of the Berlinbased environmental campaign group Germanwatch. “It is now up to (German Chancellor Olaf ) Scholz to mobilize significant financial commitments by leaders at the Elmau summit.”