G7 Countries Reach Agreements On Goals, But Not Details
Leaders of the world’s seven largest national economies made — sometimes halting and vague — commitments to address climate change at their summit in Cornwall, England, over the weekend. Amid a “festival” of protests on both land and sea, the G7 countries agreed to end international funding for coal projects without carbon capture by the end of next year and to achieve an “overwhelmingly decarbonized” electricity sector by the end of the decade. But they also failed to agree on a date by which they would stop burning coal. While Germany and Canada pledged new money for developing countries to fight climate change, critics pointed out big countries are still well short of hitting an overdue target of providing $100 billion by 2020.
On the final day of the summit, G7 leaders launched the Build Back Better for the World initiative to counter China’s Belt and Road, but they did not agree on what the “B3W” initiative would entail, nor on how it should be funded. They also pledged to speed the transition to electric vehicles but backed off from plans to set firm target dates.
Sources: Climate & coal: (New York Times $, Politico, Mother Jones, Politico EU, AP, Washington Post $, Politico EU; Transition funding: Reuters, The Guardian; B3W: (FT $, Politico Pro $; Cars: Bloomberg $, Axios; Protests New York Times $, The Guardian, Politico, New York Times $; G7 overview: Reuters, factbox, NPR, New York Times $
Originally published by Nexus Media.
Post Script: Greta Thunberg weighs in ..
The climate and ecological crisis is rapidly escalating. G7 spends fantasy amounts on fossil fuels as CO2 emissions are forecast for 2nd biggest annual rise ever.
This calls for steak-and-lobster-BBQ-celebration while jet planes perform aerobatics in the sky above the G7 resort! pic.twitter.com/iAKEit9aCB
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) June 13, 2021
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