Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault says he is “very optimistic” about the outcome of the meeting of G7 climate ministers and believes there is consensus on the idea of phase out the polluting energy produced by coal.
Posted at 3:56 p.m.
Senior officials from the G7 countries hold a three-day meeting in Berlin, Germany, during which Minister Guilbeault said he stressed “the importance of rigorous international action to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement and ensure that the 1.5°C warming target remains achievable”.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Steven Guilbeault indicated that he believes that within the group, “there is a consensus on the fact that we must reduce, or even eliminate, the use of coal, remains to be seen there where we are going to land precisely within the framework of the press release”.
Last November, delegates from the 197 parties represented at COP26 in Glasgow signed a declaration committing to a “reduction” in the use of coal, which many environmental groups criticized, hoping instead for a commitment that would put an end to the production of energy from coal.
Environment ministers are due to issue a statement on Friday and some media have reported that behind the scenes Japan and the United States could prevent a concrete commitment on coal.
But like Minister Steven Guilbeault, the German Minister of Energy and Climate seems optimistic.
The Associated Press reported on Thursday that Robert Habeck said the Group of Seven countries could “perhaps lead the way” and “play a pioneering role” in ending the use of coal.
No question of sacrificing the climate for energy security
Support for Europe’s accelerated transition to clean energy is also at the heart of discussions among G7 ministers and according to Steven Guilbeault, the Group of Seven does not intend to sacrifice the fight against climate change for fill the lack of hydrocarbons in Europe, a situation caused by the sanctions against Russian oil.
“All the interventions that I have heard today on the issue of energy security are then all accompanied by interventions to say that we cannot sacrifice the fight against climate change in the name of energy security and that, the members of the G7 are unanimous and unequivocal on this,” said Minister Guilbeault on Thursday.
He specified that “there is really a level of collaboration and agreements that we have never seen at the G7”, which is probably explained “by the fact that people have decided to stick together and to support each other, especially Europe, with all that is happening with Vladimir Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine”.
Recall that Ottawa announced last March that “Canadian industry has the capacity to gradually increase its oil and gas exports by approximately 300,000 barrels per day during 2022, in order to replace oil and gas Russians”.
In a press release, Natural Resources Canada had, however, specified that the increase in exports to Europe would be “without increasing global (GHG) emissions”.
Protect biodiversity
Canada’s Minister of the Environment believes that these colleagues from other countries are “very aligned on the whole issue of biodiversity loss”.
According to him, they agree on the need to have “an ambitious framework on reducing the loss of biodiversity on a global scale” and that “the notion of protecting 30% of our land and oceans by 2030 seems to be a consensus”.
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson is also attending the meeting of G7 climate, energy and environment ministers in Berlin.
Germany, which holds the presidency of the G7 this year, has invited Indonesia to participate in this meeting as a guest country.