G7 Ministers may pledge to phase out coal, decarbonise power

G7 Climate, Energy and Environment Ministers will meet in Berlin from Wednesday to Friday.

Climate Ministers from the Group of Seven economic powers will this week consider committing to phase out polluting coal-fuelled energy by 2030 and decarbonise their power sectors by 2035, according to a draft meeting communique seen by Reuters.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, a top fossil fuel exporter, has triggered a dash among some countries to buy more non-Russian fossil fuels and burn more coal to cut reliance on Russian gas — raising fears that the energy crisis triggered by the war could undermine efforts to fight climate change. G7 Climate, Energy and Environment Ministers will meet in Berlin from Wednesday to Friday.

There, they will attempt to agree on commitments to ensure their short-term response to soaring global energy prices and fuel supply fears does not derail longer term commitments to slash greenhouse gas emissions heating the planet.

"We commit to phase out domestic unabated coal power generation and non-industrial coal-powered heat generation aiming at the year 2030," a draft of their meeting communique said. "Unabated" refers to power plants that do not use technology to capture their emissions.

The draft would also commit G7 countries to have a "net zero electricity sector by 2035" and to start reporting publicly next year on how they are delivering on a past G7 commitment to end "inefficient" fossil fuel subsidies by 2025. The draft could change before it is adopted on Friday. Sources familiar with the discussions said Japan and the United States had both indicated they could not support the coal phase-out date.

An official at Japan's Industry Ministry, which oversees local power generation infrastructure, declined to comment directly on the G7 negotiations.