The Group of Seven (G7)’s Climate and energy ministers failed to agree to any new deadlines on ending polluting power sources like coal but vowed to “accelerate the phase-out of unabated fossil fuels so as to achieve net zero in energy systems by 2050 at the latest.” Some countries are exploring the use of low-carbon and renewable hydrogen and its derivatives in the power sector to work towards zero-emission thermal power generation if this can be aligned with our collective goal for a fully or predominantly decarbonized power sector by 2035, the ministers said in a joint statement after the Meeting on Climate, Energy, and Environment.
“We note the opportunity to collectively reduce by at least 50 percent, CO2 emissions from G7 vehicle stock by 2035 or earlier relative to the level in 2000 as a halfway point to achieving net zero,” they added.
The meeting also discussed ways to encourage companies to manufacture recyclable products to ensure a transparent and sustainable supply of important metals, including lithium and cobalt, the availability of which depends on specific countries such as China.
Japan, chairing the meeting in the northern city of Sapporo, was reluctant to agree to a specific timeframe for ending coal use given its likely need to rely on that source for at least most of the 2030s, despite pressure from the UK and Canada to curb coal use.
This meeting is the first of a series of in-person ministerial meetings in the run-up to the G7 summit in May in Hiroshima.
This meeting focused on ways to reach the G7’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 by reducing dependence on fossil fuels, as ensuring energy security is one of their main agendas. The G7 group includes the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the US.
Source: Qatar News Agency