G7 countries agree to end international funding of coal

“International investments in unabated coal must stop now,” the G7 environment ministers, including John Kerry of the US and the UK’s Alok Sharma, saidin a communiqué yesterday. They pledged to take “concrete steps” to end new direct government support for unabated international thermal coal power generation, or where there has been no effort to capture emissions. The strongly worded statement sets the stage for more climate pledges when G7 country leaders, including Boris Johnson, British prime minister, and Joe Biden, US president, meet in the UK next month. “This commitment sends a clear signal to the world that coal is on the way out,” said Sharma, president of the UN COP26 climate summit, which will be hosted by the UK in November. “We have all agreed to accelerate the transition away from dirty coal capacity.” Coal mining has come under pressure this week after the International Energy Agency said that no new coal mines should be needed if the world is to cut emissions to net zero by 2050. The G7 countries also pledged to make “accelerated efforts” to limit global warming to 1.5C relative to pre-industrial times — a big shift from previous statements that focused on limiting warming to 2C. “This is the first time we have come together with a public statement about 1.5C,” said US climate envoy John Kerry, who urged all the world’s main economies to follow suit. The 2015 Paris accord binds all signatories to limit warming to “well below” 2C. “This is a watershed moment. There’s a tremendous difference between 1.5C and 2C,” said Alden Meyer, a senior associate with think-tank E3G. But the ministers failed to reach any concrete agreement on climate-related aid to developing countries, which is shaping up to be one of the thorniest issues at the COP26 summit. They reiterated the goal of mobilising $100bn annually by 2025, but did not outline plans for helping developing countries financially beyond 2025. There had been concerns that the G7 might be unable to make a clear commitment to end global coal financing if Japan did not support the pledge, as it was seen as the most reluctant due to its reliance on coal. Kerry noted the “work that we did with Japan, and Japan’s important steps and important effort to find unity on the road ahead”. Rebecca Newsom, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said the action on fossil fuels “needs to go much further, ending all new coal, oil and gas projects at home as well as their financing internationally