G7 nations are more vital than ever in Climate action: Simon Stiell

New Delhi: United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell on Monday called on the G7 nations to step up action against the climate crisis and make adequate climate finance available.

Speaking at the G7 Ministerial Meeting of Climate, Energy and Environment Ministers in Turin, Italy, Simon Stiell said, “It is utter nonsense to claim the G7 cannot – or should not – lead the way on bolder climate actions”.

“I often hear in forums that, we cannot possibly move too far forward, lest we predetermine the outcome of negotiations in the UNFCCC process”, he said.

“As the custodian of the UN process underpinning global climate negotiations, I am compelled to set the matter straight,” said Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The Group of Seven or G7 member states include France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada, and the European Union (EU)

“There is no reason why this forum, comprised of the world‘s largest developed economies, cannot collaborate to make bolder strides, that would boost what is possible within the global climate negotiations,” Stiell said.

“G7 leading from the front – particularly through much deeper emissions cuts, and bigger and better climate finance this year – is entirely doable. It is essential if we are to avoid a global economic disaster” he further added.

Currently, the G7 are collectively only targeting a doubling of renewable capacity, leaving a gap of 0.7 TW (Terawatt) to tripling according to an analysis by Ember, an independent energy think tank.

Ember is an energy think tank that aims to accelerate the clean energy transition with data and policy.

According to Ember’s 2030 Global Renewable Target Tracker, the collective sum of the G7 members’ 2030 renewable capacity targets is 2 TW.

Calling the “Fossil fuels are the core problem” he said, which is why the UAE Consensus agreed to transition away from them, and that transition needs to be much faster and fairer.

He added, “The success of COP28 drove home an important lesson to us all that halving emissions this decade is not just a question of reducing the supply of fossil fuels, it is also a question of reducing demand from the countries around this table that outstrips the capacity of the global climate system to cope.”

The 2023 COP28 Summit was the 28th United Nations Climate Change conference, held from November 30 to December 13 in Dubai.

Stiell warned the G7 leaders to not invest public funds in fossil fuel subsidies, which include phasing out coal by 2030 and cutting down on emissions.