G7 environment and energy ministers meeting in Turin, northern Italy, reached an agreement on Tuesday to phase out coal-fired power plants that do not have carbon capture devices by 2035, an important step towards ending the use of fossil fuels.
Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel and environmentalists have called on the G7 – which includes Italy, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US – to lead by example.
The G7 agreed to “phase out current coal-fired electricity generation in (its) power systems during the first half of the 2030s or on a timetable consistent with maintaining a 1.5°C temperature increase limit consistent with carbon trajectories neutrality,” the member countries announced in a press release.
It was the first major political climate meeting since COP28, held in Dubai last December, where the world pledged to phase out coal, gas and oil.
Reducing plastic production, “aspiration”
The G7 countries also said on Tuesday that they “aspire” to reduce global plastic production to tackle global pollution caused by the material, which is present everywhere in the environment, from mountain tops to the bottom of the oceans. , as well as in the blood of human beings.
“We are committed to taking ambitious action throughout the life cycle of plastics to end plastic pollution and call on the global community to do the same,” they said without elaborating.
Donate to the poorest…if possible
The ministers also said efforts to raise funds to help poorer countries fight climate change should include all “countries able to contribute”.
Under the 1992 UN climate convention, only a small handful of high-income countries, which dominated the world economy at the time, pledged to finance the fight against global warming. This did not include China, which has now become the country with the highest greenhouse gas emissions.
Together, the G7 countries account for 38% of the global economy and are responsible for 21% of greenhouse gas emissions, according to 2021 data from the Institute for Climate Analysis.