G7 ministers agree to accelerate renewable energy development

Environment and energy ministers from the G7 group of advanced economies agreed at a two-day meeting in Japan to accelerate the development of renewable energy and called for a reduction in natural gas consumption. However, they did not set a deadline for phasing out coal-fired power generation. They also reaffirmed the group’s commitment to achieving a fully or predominantly decarbonized power sector by 2035. This is according to a published communiqué.

According to the document, G7 members acknowledged the need to reduce natural gas production. At the same time, they said investment in the sector could help address potential energy shortages.

„We will dramatically increase renewable electricity generation,“ the ministers said.

They pledged to collectively increase offshore wind capacity by 150 gigawatts and solar capacity by more than one terawatt by 2030.

The agreement also provides for accelerating the phase-out of burning fossil fuels without using technologies to capture the resulting CO2 emissions. This is intended to help countries achieve net-zero emissions from power generation by 2050 at the latest.