Experts, activists slam pointless G7 on climate [Video]

The Group of Seven rich democracies have failed to deliver significant new progress on climate during a summit in Italy, instead reiterating previous commitments, experts and activists said Friday.

“The G7 leaders could have stayed at home. No new commitments were made,” said Friederike Roeder, vice president at Global Citizen.

The leaders meeting in Puglia confirmed a pledge by their environment ministers in April “to phase out existing unabated coal power generation in our energy systems during the first half of 2030s”.

But they left some wiggle room: countries can commit instead to phase out “in a timeline consistent with keeping a limit of 1.5C temperature rise within reach, in line with countries’ net-zero pathways”, according to the final statement.

“To stay below 1.5C, the G7’s plan to phase out coal is simply too little, too late and gas is neither cheap nor a bridge fuel to a safe climate,” …