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A12 HEALTH
Monday 30 May 2022

G-7 pledges put coal on notice, could

boost climate aid

put pressure on other major
polluters to follow suit and
build on the compromise
deal reached at last year’s
U.N. climate summit, where
nations committed merely
to “phase down” rather
than “phase out” coal —
with no fixed date.
U.S. climate envoy John
Kerry called the agree-
ments reached in Berlin
“very comprehensive and
forward-leaning.”
“I think it will help lay the
German Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck, right, groundwork for what has
and John Kerry, left, Special Envoy of the U.S. President for Cli- to happen at the G-20,” he
mate, shake hands after they signed a declaration of intent to told The Associated Press,
establish a German-American climate and energy partnership referring to a meeting lat-
between the United States of America and Germany at the
meeting of the G7 Ministers for Climate, Energy and Environment er this year of the broader
in Berlin, Germany, Monday, May. 27, 2022. (Bernd von Jutrc- Group of 20 leading and
zenka/dpa/dpa via AP) emerging economies, who
are responsible for 80% of
BERLIN (AP) — Officials from “The 2035 target for power global emissions.
the Group of Seven wealthy sector decarbonisation is a Getting all G-20 countries
nations announced Friday real breakthrough. In prac- to sign on to the ambitious
that they will aim to largely tice, this means countries targets set by some of the
end greenhouse gas emis- need to phase out coal most advanced econo-
sions from their power sec- by 2030 at the latest,” said mies will be difficult, as
tors by 2035, making it high- Luca Bergamaschi, direc- countries such as China,
ly unlikely that those coun- tor of Rome-based cam- India and Indonesia remain
tries will burn coal for elec- paign group ECCO. heavily reliant on coal.
tricity beyond that date. Coal is a heavily polluting Under pressure to step up
Ministers from the G-7 fossil fuel that’s respon- their financial aid to poor
countries meeting in Berlin sible for a fifth of global nations, the G-7 ministers in
also announced a target to greenhouse gas emis- Berlin said they recognized

have a “highly decarbon- sions caused by humans. that “action and support
ized road sector by 2030,” While there are ways to re- for vulnerable countries,
meaning that electric vehi- duce emissions of carbon populations and vulner-
cles would dominate new dioxide from the burning of able groups need to be fur-
car sales by the end of the coal, experts say it is almost ther scaled up.”
decade. impossible to reduce it to This includes governments
And in a move aimed at zero, meaning it will likely and companies “providing
ending the recurring con- have to be the first fossil enhanced support regard-
flict between rich and poor fuel to be phased out. ing averting, minimizing
nations during international G-7 members Britain, and addressing loss and
climate talks, the G-7 rec- France and Italy have damage associated with
ognized for the first time already set themselves the adverse impacts of cli-
the need to provide devel- deadlines to stop burning mate change,” they said.
oping countries with addi- coal for electricity in the Developing countries have
tional financial aid to cope next few years. Germany for years demanded a clear
with the loss and damage and Canada are aiming commitment that they will
caused by global warming. for 2030; Japan wants more receive funds to cope with
The agreements, which time; while the Biden ad- the destruction wrought by
will be put to leaders next ministration has set a target climate change. Wealthy
month at the G-7 summit of ending fossil fuel use for nations have resisted the
in Elmau, Germany, were electricity generation in the idea, however, for fear of
largely welcomed by cli- United States by 2035. being held liable for cost-
mate activists. A common target would ly disasters linked to their
emissions.
“After years of roadblocks,
the G-7 finally recognize
that they need to finan-
cially support poor coun-
tries in addressing climate-
related losses and dam-
ages,” said David Ryfisch
of the Berlin-based environ-
mental campaign group
Germanwatch.q