G7 ministers set big new targets for solar and wind capacity FMTNews FMTWorld
Group of Seven ministers finished two days of meetings on climate, energy and environmental policy in Sapporo on Sunday.
“In the midst of an unprecedented energy crisis, it’s important to come up with measures to tackle climate change and promote energy security at the same time,” Japanese industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told a news conference. “Initially people thought that climate action and action on energy security potentially were in conflict. But discussions which we had and which are reflected in the communique are that they actually work together,” said Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s minister of natural resources.
On coal, the countries agreed to prioritise “concrete and timely steps” towards accelerating the phase-out of “domestic, unabated coal power generation”, as a part of a commitment last year to achieve at least a “predominantly” decarbonised power sector by 2035. “We are trying to find ways some who are more coal-dependent than others to find technical pathways how to do that,” he said.“The solar and wind commitments are huge statements to the importance that they will rely on the energy superpowers of solar and wind in order to phase out fossil fuels,” said Dave Jones, who is head of data insights at energy think tank Ember.