G7 leaders call for decarbonization of global economy

The leaders of the G7 group of industrialised nations have expressed their support for reaching a global climate agreement later this year, saying that a decarbonization of the global economy by 2100 is needed to achieve climate change targets.

The leaders of the G7 group of industrialised nations have expressed their support for reaching a global climate agreement later this year, saying that a decarbonization of the global economy by 2100 is needed to achieve climate change targets.

The G7 leaders at their meeting in Schloss Elmau (Image: German government)

At the end of their annual summit - held in Elmau, Germany on 7-8 June - the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the USA released a joint declaration calling for "urgent and concrete action" on climate change.

They said, "We affirm our strong determination to adopt at the Climate Change Conference in December in Paris this year (COP 21) a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change applicable to all parties that is ambitious, robust, inclusive and reflects evolving national circumstances."

"The agreement should enhance transparency and accountability including through binding rules at its core to track progress towards achieving targets, which should promote increased ambition over time," the leaders said. "This should enable all countries to follow a low-carbon and resilient development pathway in line with the global goal to hold the increase in global average temperature below 2°C."

However, to meet this target, "we emphasize that deep cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions are required with a decarbonization of the global economy over the course of this century", the declaration said.

"We commit to doing our part to achieve a low-carbon global economy in the long term including developing and deploying innovative technologies striving for a transformation of the energy sectors by 2050 and invite all countries to join us in this endeavour," the G7 leaders said. "To this end we also commit to develop long-term national low-carbon strategies."

The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the Copenhagen Accord to mobilizing jointly $100 billion per year by 2020 from a wide variety of sources to help developing countries with emissions reduction and adaptation projects.

"We recognize the potential of multilateral development banks (MDBs) in developing climate finance and helping countries transition to low-carbon economies. We call on MDBs to use to the fullest extent possible their balance sheets and their capacity to mobilize other partners in support of country-led programs to meet this goal."

The leaders also said they remain committed to "the elimination of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies".

On the subject of energy security, the leaders declared: "We regard diversification as a core element of energy security and aim to further diversify the energy mix, energy fuels, sources and routes."

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News