G-7 nears fossil fuel phase-out deal without coal exit deadline

“For the first time ever, the G-7 says that we must accelerate the phasing out of all unabated fossil fuels,” Pannier-Runacher told reporters on Saturday. “We could not reach an agreement on exiting coal by a specific date, which we wanted to set at 2030.”

The G-7 have appointed themselves leaders in the global mission to decarbonize, and the communique sends an important political signal that sets the tone for energy and climate conversations fpr the rest of the year. Still, the failure to agree on a timeline to exit coal may weaken resolve ahead of a critical UN climate summit in Dubai later this year — COP 28 — where nearly 200 nations will be pressed to phase out the fossil fuel.

The G-7 also calls for accelerating installment of renewables, Pannier-Runacher said. A plan in the works would aim to triple solar capacity and boost offshore wind generation seven-fold from 2021 levels across the group by the end of this decade, Nikkei reported Saturday.

The G-7 pledged last year to “end new direct public support for the international unabated fossil fuel energy sector by the end of 2022, except in limited circumstances clearly defined by each country that are consistent with a 1.5 °C warming limit.” But that hasn’t stopped some members from continuing to finance new fossil fuel generation.

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Japanese Nippon Export and Investment Insurance earlier this year committed $655 million for a new 1,580 megawatt natural gas power plant in Uzbekistan. And public finance support in Germany and Italy for fossil fuel projects doesn’t align with climate pledges the group’s energy and environment ministers made last year, according to nonprofit group Oil Change International.

In the earlier drafts of the communique for the ministerial, Japan had called for support for upstream investment in LNG and natural gas. The French energy minister said that a compromise was reached which “implicitly means that we cannot invest in the exploration of new gas capacity.”

G7 countries are still negotiating over ways to reduce vehicle emissions, Pannier-Runacher said, without elaborating.

Securing metals critical for building green technologies is also under discussion, Japan’s NHK reported Friday, and G-7 members are working on a plan to allocate more than 1 trillion yen ($7.5 billion) toward the development of supply chains to ensure supplies of minerals like lithium and nickel. The proposal may help sidestep export restrictions on raw materials critical for manufacturing batteries and building clean energy infrastructure by countries including China and India.

“We have all became acutely aware that over-reliance on a single energy supplier and a lack of diversification imply high risks, for energy security and for our clean energy transition,” European Union Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said in an email. “This applies to conventional fuels, like gas or oil, as Russia’s war against Ukraine has underscored, but also to future clean techs, with respect to the necessary critical materials.”

The Sapporo meeting is a precursor to the annual G-7 summit for world leaders, which Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will host in Hiroshima next month.

(By Shoko Oda, with assistance from Tsuyoshi Inajima, Takashi Umekawa and Ewa Krukowska)