Page 7 - AsiaElec Week 22 2022

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

the G7 meeting – with delegates from several objectives, including the possibility of providing
European countries, including Germany, about additional incentives for clean energy technol-
the potential for shipping them clean Canadian ogies, and implementing these commitments
hydrogen to help wean them off Russian oil and within this time frame,” they said.
gas. Meanwhile, the EU agreed to end Russian oil
Green think-tank E3G noted that the minis- imports as part of the sixth package of sanctions
ters continued backsliding on their “billions to against the Putin government.
trillions” policy promise to mobilise the sustain- The G7 ministers said in their statement that
able infrastructure investment needed for devel- they “condemn in the strongest terms Russia’s
oping countries’ energy transitions. unjustifiable, unprovoked and illegal war of
Brick Medak, head of E3G’s Berlin office, said: aggression against Ukraine.”
“The G7 climate, energy, environment minis- The G7 meeting also admitted that climate
terial showed Minister Robert Habeck finally issues were now inextricably linked to the global
stepped up to the mark to secure progress on G7 energy and national security agenda. Put simply,
climate action after failing to align Development the governments said that the climate change
and Finance ministers to the climate vision. But and how to combat it is now a major element of
a significant to-do list is left for the German the global security architecture.
G7 presidency looking at the Leader’s Summit Maria Pastukhova, senior policy advisor,
in Elmau at the end of June, with gaps on the energy diplomacy and geopolitics at E3G, said:
actions needed in this decade to phase out coal “The G7 have made a step in the right direction
and mobilise the trillions necessary for a global today by putting a date for largely decarbonised
green transition. Chancellor Olaf Scholz must power sectors. It is a key signal towards the rest
show up at the leader’s level ready to go beyond of the world that the current crisis and efforts to
his pet project climate club and move G7 leaders secure new fossil supplies will be time bound. It
on where the climate and energy ministerial fell validates that, over the last months, the decar-
short.” bonisation of the power sector has grown from
Meanwhile, all seven G7 governments climate into security objective – now delivery
said in a statement that they would “signifi- needs to follow.”
cantly increase” global investments in low and The energy transition now unites a range of
zero-emissions energy. global issues that were previously seen as sep-
“We commit to align our official trade, export arate, such as the war in Ukraine, energy price
and development finance policies towards these volatility, supply shocks and critical minerals.™

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