Leaders from the world’s seven largest economies pledged to accelerate the clean energy transition on Sunday, but failed to set a timetable for ending new coal and methane gas investments. Ahead of the UN’s COP28 climate summit in Dubai this November, the G7 communique “falls short of being the clarion call to action that was needed,” Alden Meyer of E3G said in a Twitter Space, adding the G7 undermines its global authority “every time they allow carve-outs on issues like international fossil fuel finance.”
A UN IPCC report released last year called for the immediate end of all new fossil fuel infrastructure, and phasing out existing fossil fuel extraction and combustion, to give us a fighting chance to avoid the worst and most damaging impacts of climate change. But the G7 communique, while acknowledging “fossil fuel subsidies are inconsistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement,” nonetheless also stated that in light of the Russian-caused energy crisis, “investment in the gas sector can be appropriate … if implemented in a manner consistent with our climate objectives and without creating lock-in effects.” (Bloomberg $, AP, Politico EU, Reuters, FT $, Reuters, The Hill, The Independent; Excerpts: Reuters)