G7 Pledge to Exit Coal by 2035 Could Include Exceptions for Germany and Japan

By Charles Kennedy - Apr 30, 2024

The G7 group of the world’s most industrialized nations is set to announce later on Tuesday a pledge to phase out coal-fired power generation by 2035 but could include some leeway to Germany and Japan, Reuters reports, citing diplomatic sources.

The energy, climate, and environment ministers of the G7 nations – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States – are meeting between Sunday and Tuesday at a palace near Turin to discuss ways to address climate change. Phasing out coal-fired electricity is top of the agenda, and a tentative agreement has been reportedly reached. The ministers agreed on Monday on phasing out coal-fired electricity between 2030 and 2035, and are expected to announce it officially later on Tuesday, Reuters’s sources said.

However, Germany and Japan could be given more time to shut down coal-fired power generation by including in the final communique wording that G7 countries could pick a date to exit coal that is consistent with keeping a limit of 1.5 C global temperature rise within reach, according to Reuters’s sources.

Germany aims for coal phase-out by 2030, but its official end date is 2038. Japan, for its part, hasn’t set any end date for exiting coal-fired electricity.

A potential common target to phase out coal-fired power plants by 2035 in G7 nations would mark the first major achievement in the reduction of fossil fuels since the COP28 summit in Dubai at the end of last year.

During the annual climate summit, and after much debate, the countries issued a final declaration with a compromise text referencing for the first time a call to all parties to transition away from fossil fuels.

One of the “global efforts” is “Transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science,” the text reads.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com