Climate Change: G-7 Set Big Targets For Solar, Wind

The Group of Seven nations set new targets for solar power and offshore wind capacity.

The group agreed to speed up renewable energy development and move toward a quicker phase-out of fossil fuels.

The G-7 ministers finished two days of meetings on climate, energy and environmental policy in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo on Sunday.

In their communique, the members pledged to increase offshore wind capacity by 150 gigawatts by 2030 and solar power to more than one terawatts.

The group said; “We will drastically increase electricity generated by renewable energies."

They agreed to accelerate “the phase-out of unabated fossil fuels” – the burning of fossil fuels without using technology to capture the resulting C02 emissions – to achieve net zero in energy systems by 2050 at the latest.

The G-7 members said investment in the gas sector “can be appropriate” to address potential market shortfalls provoked by the crisis in Ukraine if implemented in a manner consistent with climate objectives.

They targeted 2040 to reduce additional plastic pollution to zero, bringing the target forward by a decade.