MILAN (AP) 鈥 Energy and environment ministers of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations committed Tuesday to phase out coal power by 2035, marking the first time the G7 has explicitly referenced a phase-out, but left flexibility for countries heavily reliant on coal.
The final communique of the meeting in the Italian city of Turin included language that could extend the 2035 deadline to a 鈥渢imeframe consistent with limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius鈥 above pre-industrialized levels.
Italy鈥檚 environment and energy security minister, Gilberto Picchetto Fratin, emphasized the significance of targeting coal, 鈥渢he source of most emissions.鈥
The communique puts a timeline to made at the last year in Dubai, which called for accelerating the phase-down of so-called unabated coal power, where emissions have not been captured.
鈥淭his is the first time that a pathway and a goal has been indicated,鈥欌 Picchetto Fratin told a news conference.
Environmental campaigners said the commitment fell short of the goal of decarbonizing power sectors in the G7 nations by 2035, recommended by both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency, which would require phasing out coal by 2030 and gas power by 2035.
The Beyond Fossils Fuel campaign called the coal power phase-out commitment vague, 鈥渓ikely in a bid to coax a coal exit commitment from Japan.鈥
Japan is the only G7 country without a coal phase-out date. Britain, France, Italy and Canada are committed to phasing out coal no later than 2030, while the United States and Germany 鈥渁re taking major steps toward this date,鈥欌 said Pieter de Pous, program lead at E3G鈥檚 Coal to Clean program.
鈥淕7 ministers need to lead by example and align their commitments with reality and the urgency of the climate crisis,鈥 said Claire Smith with Beyond Fossil Fuels.
