2023-07-22 17:16:49
The G20 energy ministers stall on the establishment of a timetable for the gradual reduction of the use of fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal).
The energy ministers of the G20 countries, meeting in India on Saturday, failed to agree on a timetable for gradually reducing the use of fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal). Their final statement released after the meeting in Goa doesn’t even mention coal, yet one of the big contributors to global warming.
The problem is that coal is also one of the main sources of energy for many developing economies including India, the most populous country in the world, or China, the world’s second largest economy.
This failure to agree comes despite the will expressed in May in Hiroshima by the leaders of the G7 to “accelerate” their “exit” from fossil fuels, and as global temperatures reach record highs, causing heat waves, floods and fires.
A coalition of 18 countries calls for “an urgent exit from fossil fuels” and “a peak in greenhouse gases by 2025”, believing that “humanity cannot afford to wait”.
To explain this impasse, India, which chairs the G20, indicated that some of the members wanted a “reduction of fossil fuels + unabated +”, in other words not backed by carbon capture or storage devices, while “others have a different opinion on whether carbon capture and storage technologies meet these needs”.
“Humanity cannot afford to wait”
A coalition of 18 countries, including France and Germany, led by the Marshall Islands, demanded on Friday “an urgent exit from fossil fuels” and “a peak in greenhouse gases by 2025”, believing that “humanity cannot afford to wait”. This coalition calls for a 43% reduction in global emissions by 2030 compared to 2019, in order to respect the 1.5°C limit, in accordance with the calculations of the United Nations climate experts.
But many developing countries believe that the rich countries, the biggest polluters, must finance more the energy transition. India, in particular, has set a goal of net zero emissions for 2070, 20 years later than many other countries.
A report preparing India’s presidency of the G20 has calculated at 4,000 billion dollars per year the cost of the energy transition and stressed the importance of low-cost financing for technology transfer and developing countries, a recurring request from New Delhi.
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