ONLY five of the G7 member states promised to stop using coal-fire-powered generation in the next 12 years as part of global efforts to reduce dependency on fossil fuels.
Ministers on Climate, Energy, and Environment gathered in the Italian city of Turin earlier this week for a three-day summit.
The delegates who attended the event from April 28 to 30 adopted a joint communiqué to phase out coal power by 2035 as well as “limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius” above pre-industrialized levels.
However, G7 delegates from Canada, the US, France, Italy, and the UK made an exemption for other member countries heavily dependent on coal such as Japan and Germany.
Both G7 countries are still working on an official date to phase out coal.
The event marked the first time that G7 member states set a timeline to end coal-fired power generation without carbon capture and storage.
However, the ambitious pledge was criticized by environmental campaigners for falling short of the goal of decarbonizing power sectors in the G7 nations by 2035, which would require phasing out coal in 2030, or five years earlier.
Before the meeting in Turin, the G7 delegates met in the Italian island of Capri where they talked about the conflict in Ukraine and the tensions in the Middle East.
Even though its goal to phase out coal was delayed, Japan was one of 136 countries that have pledged to reach net zero by 2050.
