G7 still see role for gas in transition

Members of the G7 issued a joint statement on May 21 announcing new measures to decarbonise their energy systems, while recognising that gas still has a role to play in reducing emissions.

The ministers for climate and the environment of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, met virtually on May 20-21 to discuss policy. The meeting was held days after the International Energy Agency (IEA) published a new report concluding that there was only a "narrow but still achievable" pathway for the world to reach net zero within three decades. The report called for no more investment in coal mining or oil and gas exploration and production.

Despite this recommendation, the G7 said it recognised "that natural gas may still be needed during the clean energy transition on a time-limited basis and we will work to abate related emissions towards overwhelmingly decarbonised power systems in the 2030s."

The group instead took aim at coal, recognising it as the "single biggest cause of global temperature increases."

"We commit now to rapidly scale up technologies and policies that further accelerate the transition away from unabated coal capacity and to an overwhelmingly decarbonised power system in the 2030s, consistent with our nationally determined contributions and net zero commitments," the G7 said. "We stress that international investments in unabated coal must stop now and commit to take concrete steps towards an absolute end to new direct government support for unabated international thermal coal power generation by the end of 2021, including through official development assistance, export finance, investment, and financial and trade promotion support."