- G7 Leaders have concluded their meeting in Germany with an expected focus on Ukraine and addressing global food insecurity.
- Climate club, JET Ps, Global Shield were all advanced, but G7’s own climate ambition has not progressed.
As expected, the G7 focused on Ukraine and the myriad of geopolitical challenges facing them and the world. Germany’s Chancellor Scholz has stalled on Merkel’s legacy of accelerating G7 climate commitments despite geopolitical distractions.
Without clarity on their own coal phase out and by meddling with their promise to end overseas fossil fuel investment, G7 Leaders have made no progress since ministers met in May. Their commitments to decarbonise electricity by 2035, scale up climate finance and support for countries to address loss & damage when climate impacts hit, stand strong. But we had expected far more from Germany, this was a major moment for the new government.
There were silver linings. The G7 launched new forms of global collaboration to tackle climate change with the ‘global shield against climate risk’, Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs), and the idea of a climate club for accelerating industrial decarbonisation. These are early-stage ideas and to live up to their climate leadership claims, the G7 will need to bring them real financial backing, and global buy in outside the G7 club.
Alex Scott, E3G Programme Lead said: “The G7 launching global collaboration to tackle the climate crisis in JETPs, a global shield, and the climate club, show they see climate change as a threat they must address, even amidst a challenging geopolitical context. But they forgot to demonstrate that new scale of action at home. Chancellor Scholz has failed to mobilise new climate commitments from G7 leaders, leaving a huge gap for them to fill in the next four months to have credibility come COP27.”
Johannes Schroeten, Policy Advisor at E3G said: “Chancellor Scholz’ attempt to carve out large exemptions from the COP26 ‘statement on international public support for the clean energy transition’ has been averted – but only just. The integrity of the policy stands, but we need urgent clarification of timelines and investment criteria, beyond the empty notion of hydrogen-readiness. The G7 have just wasted this golden opportunity to accelerate the end of international fossil fuel public finance.”
Domien Vangenechten, Policy Advisor at E3G said: “Today’s announcement on climate clubs puts the decarbonisation of industry at the heart of the initiative. While the idea to focus on carbon pricing has lost steam, the pivot to heavy industry has the potential to accelerate the development of global green markets through cooperation. G7 countries now need to develop clear Terms Of Reference with a view to incorporating key partners with high level of climate ambition.”
