SAPPORO, Japan (Reuters) – The Group of Seven rich nations on Sunday set big new targets for solar power and offshore wind capacity, agreeing to speed up renewable energy development and move toward a quicker phase-out of fossil fuels.
Below are key extracts from the G7 climate, energy and environment ministers’ communique, including the annex.
RUSSIA
“We condemn Russia’s illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine;
“We stand ready to support the sustainable and resilient recovery and green reconstruction of Ukraine.”
GAS INVESTMENTS
“Recognising the primary need to accelerate the clean energy transition through energy savings and gas demand reduction, investment in the gas sector can be appropriate to help address potential market shortfalls provoked by the crisis, subject to clearly defined national circumstances, and if implemented in a manner consistent with our climate objectives and without creating lock-in effects, for example by ensuring that projects are integrated into national strategies for the development of low-carbon and renewable hydrogen.”
RENEWABLE ENERGY
“The G7 contributes to expanding renewable energy globally and bringing down costs by strengthening capacity including through a collective increase in offshore wind capacity of 150 gigawatt by 2030 based on each country’s existing targets and a collective increase of solar (photovoltaic) to more than 1 terawatt by 2030.”
COAL-FIRED PLANTS
“(We) reaffirm our commitment to achieving a fully or predominantly decarbonised power sector by 2035, and prioritising concrete and timely steps towards the goal of accelerating the phase-out of domestic unabated coal power generation in a manner consistent with keeping a limit of 1.5°C temperature rise;
“We call on and will work with other countries to end new unabated coal-fired power generation projects globally as soon as possible to accelerate the clean energy transition in a just manner.”
HYDROGEN AND AMMONIA
“We recognise low-carbon and renewable hydrogen and its derivatives such as ammonia should be developed and used where they are impactful as effective emission reduction tools to advance decarbonisation across sectors and industries, notably in hard-to-abate sectors in industry and transportation.
“We also note that 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 a 1.5°C pathway and our collective goal for a fully or predominantly decarbonised power sector by 2035.”
CRITICAL MINERALS
“We reaffirm the growing importance of critical minerals for the clean energy transition and the need to prevent economic and security risks caused by vulnerable supply chains, monopolisation, lack of diversification of existing suppliers of critical minerals;
“We are fully committed to maintain products containing critical minerals and raw materials in the economy as long as possible;
“We emphasise the importance of countering geopolitical risks, including with respect to critical minerals, for the clean energy transition.
“We boost up developing new mines and supply chains for critical minerals in a responsible manner that promotes transparency and traceability to meet the rising demand.
“Currently $13 billion fiscal support that can be used for domestic and foreign projects is prepared across the G7 countries.”
PHASING OUT UNABATED FOSSIL FUELS
“We underline our commitment, in the context of a global effort, to accelerate the phase-out of unabated fossil fuels so as to achieve net zero in energy systems by 2050 at the latest;
“We stress that fossil fuel subsidies are inconsistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
NUCLEAR ENERGY
“Those countries that opt to use nuclear energy recognise its potential to provide affordable low-carbon energy that can reduce dependence on fossil fuels;
“They also commit to support the development and construction of nuclear reactors, such as small modular and other advanced reactors with advanced safety systems in line with (International Atomic Energy Agency) safety standards.”
PLASTIC POLLUTION
“We are committed to end plastic pollution, with the ambition to reduce additional plastic pollution to zero by 2040.”
TRANSPORTATION
“We reaffirm our commitment to a highly decarbonised road sector by 2030;
“We recognise the range of pathways that G7- and beyond-G7 members are adopting to approach this goal. We are committed to the goal of achieving net-zero emissions in the road sector by 2050, and underline that a transition over the coming decade to infrastructure and a vehicle fleet that supports zero emissions transport is critical.”
(Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Editing by David Dolan and William Mallard)
