As a major step toward reducing the use of fossil fuels, the G7 energy and climate ministers decided on a timeline on Tuesday for the phase-out of coal-fired power facilities that are not fitted to capture emissions.
The two-day Group of Seven meeting in Turin is the first major political gathering since the world committed to moving away from coal, oil, and gas at the UN’s COP28 climate summit in December.
In their final declaration, the G7 pledged to “phase out existing unabated coal power generation in our energy systems during the first half of 2030s.”
However it left some wiggle room, saying nations could follow “a timeline consistent with keeping a limit of 1.5øC temperature rise within reach, in line with countries’ net zero pathways”.
The G7 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Negotiations over a fixed date were reportedly tricky, with Japan — which relies heavily on coal — reluctant to commit.
Countries committed to limiting global warming to “well below” 2C above preindustrial times under the 2015 Paris Agreement, with a safer 1.5C goal if feasible.
The UN’s climate expert panel has stated that emissions must be cut almost in half this decade to maintain the 1.5C target, but they are still rising.
The pledge, according to France’s Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Bechu, “shows the determination to implement the transition away from fossil fuels decided at COP28.”
The G7 has made a “decisive step forward” in incorporating the Dubai agreement into national policies, according to Luca Bergamaschi of the Italian climate think tank ECCO.
But the Climate Analytics policy institute said “2035 is too late”.
“Many of these countries have already publicly committed to phase out dates ahead of 2030, and only have a small amount of coal capacity anyway,” Jane Ellis, head of climate policy, said in a statement.
In the midst of a contentious discussion about whether to create a treaty that addresses the problem by increasing recycling or decreasing manufacturing, the G7 ministers also addressed the difficult problem of plastic pollution.
The ministers declared that they “aspired” to lower and, if required, limit the amount of plastic produced worldwide.
Nowadays, plastic debris may be discovered everywhere—from the ocean floor to mountain tops—as well as in human blood and breast milk.
The G7 “aspiration” comes as a fourth and penultimate round of UN-led negotiations to solve global plastic pollution wrapped up in Ottawa with a world-first pact said to be within reach by year’s end — but without a cap on the production of polymers.
