- Saudi crown prince says no Israel ties without Palestinian state
- Canada to further cut international student, foreign worker permits
- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ |
G7 disappoints with fossil fuel 'loophole'
Leaders of the Group of Seven rich nations on Tuesday watered down a key pledge on ending fossil fuel financing abroad, as the need to tackle global warming clashed with fears over energy shortages.
The G7 countries -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- ended a summit in the Bavarian Alps by reaffirming their goal to reduce reliance on dirty fossil fuels and speed up the green energy transition.
But after three days of haggling, they also agreed to allow public investment in new international fossil fuel projects under certain conditions, as countries scramble to break free from Russian oil, coal and gas following the invasion of Ukraine.
German Chancellor and summit host Olaf Scholz "promised a crucial boost for international climate action and he didn't deliver," said Friederike Roder, vice president at the non-profit group Global Citizen.
An alliance of civil society organisations including Oil Change International also issued a scathing verdict, condemning the "loopholes" on gas that made it into the final communique.
The text reiterates that G7 nations will still halt new public investments in overseas fossil fuel projects by the end of 2022.
But given the "exceptional circumstances" of the Ukraine war, "publicly supported investment in the gas sector can be appropriate as a temporary response".
Observers said Germany and Italy, heavily reliant on Russian energy, had pushed hard for the amended text.
Like other European countries, they are racing to stockpile gas before winter and diversify suppliers as they brace for Russia to turn off the energy taps altogether after it recently slowed deliveries.
- 'Emergency' -
Germany has already decided to reactivate mothballed coal-fired plants to offset the Russian shortfall, and is eyeing a new gas project in Senegal.
Pressed by reporters about the fossil fuel relapse, Scholz stressed the latest moves were temporary and would not derail Germany's climate targets or slow its shift towards renewables.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi acknowledged the "worry" about a return to dirty fossil fuels.
"We don't want to go back on our commitments," he said at a press conference.
"Even though we access new sources of gas supply, these are replacing Russian sources. We are not increasing the long-term supply of gas," he said, describing the current energy upheaval as "an emergency".
All G7 leaders reaffirmed the commitment from the Paris pact to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
They also repeated a pledge to largely decarbonise their electricity sectors by 2035.
Among the few new promises in the final statement is the commitment to "a highly decarbonised road sector by 2030".
The announcement of climate partnerships with emerging countries such as India, Indonesia and Vietnam to help finance their clean energy transitions was welcomed by campaigners.
The partnerships "can have transformational potential", the NGO Germanwatch said.
US President Joe Biden and his counterparts also agreed to set up an international "climate club", Scholz's flagship proposal at the summit.
Focused heavily on the industrial sector, the club's aim is to coordinate climate action while avoiding competitive disadvantages, for instance through sharing technology or agreeing common standards on carbon pricing or green hydrogen.
But some critics said the idea remained vague.
- 'Huge gap' -
G7 leaders pledged to "intensify" efforts to mobilise climate financing for poor countries, many of which are already feeling the catastrophic impacts of extreme heatwaves, droughts and floods.
A long-standing goal to spend $100 billion a year from 2020 on helping vulnerable nations adapt to climate change remains unmet, however.
Environmental campaigners said the G7 had done little to provide fresh momentum for the United Nations COP27 climate summit in Egypt in November.
"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," said Alex Scott from the climate think tank E3G.
L.Janezki--BTB