ǿմý

Skip to main content

G7 nations commit to phasing out coal by 2035 but give Japan some flexibility

Italy's Environment and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin talks during the G7 Climate, energy and environment press conference in Turin, Italy, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Alberto Gandolfo/LaPresse via AP) Italy's Environment and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin talks during the G7 Climate, energy and environment press conference in Turin, Italy, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Alberto Gandolfo/LaPresse via AP)
Share
MILAN -

Energy and environment ministers of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations committed Tuesday to phase out coal power by 2035, marking the first time the G7 has explicitly referenced a phase-out, but left flexibility for countries heavily reliant on coal.

The final communique of the meeting in the Italian city of Turin included language that could extend the 2035 deadline to a “timeframe consistent with limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius” above pre-industrialized levels.

Italy’s environment and energy security minister, Gilberto Picchetto Fratin, emphasized the significance of targeting coal, “the source of most emissions.”

The communique puts a timeline to countries' commitments made at the COP 28 conference last year in Dubai, which called for accelerating the phase-down of so-called unabated coal power, where emissions have not been captured.

“This is the first time that a pathway and a goal has been indicated,’’ Picchetto Fratin told a news conference.

Environmental campaigners said the commitment fell short of the goal of decarbonizing power sectors in the G7 nations by 2035, recommended by both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency, which would require phasing out coal by 2030 and gas power by 2035.

The Beyond Fossils Fuel campaign called the coal power phase-out commitment vague, “likely in a bid to coax a coal exit commitment from Japan.”

Japan is the only G7 country without a coal phase-out date. Britain, France, Italy and Canada are committed to phasing out coal no later than 2030, while the United States and Germany “are taking major steps toward this date,’’ said Pieter de Pous, program lead at E3G’s Coal to Clean program.

“G7 ministers need to lead by example and align their commitments with reality and the urgency of the climate crisis,” said Claire Smith with Beyond Fossil Fuels.

CTVNews.ca ǿմý

The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

Shamattawa RCMP are searching for a missing six-year-old boy who hasn’t been seen since Wednesday morning.

B.C.'s police watchdog is investigating the death of a woman who was shot by the RCMP after allegedly barricading herself in a room with a toddler early Thursday morning.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault is calling on the Bloc Quebecois to topple the Trudeau government next Wednesday and trigger a federal election.

Local Spotlight

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.

A daytrip to the backcountry turned into a frightening experience for a Vancouver couple this weekend.