The G7 countries have been consistently ‘agreeing’ to prevent the warming of the world beyond 2°C , hoping to avoid runaway climate change, at various Climate Change Conferences. This is despite the fact that 5 of the G7 countries – France, Germany, Italy, Japan and United Kingdom – have been burning more coal, and that the world is now heading for an increase in global warming of 4°C.
A 2009 commitment by G20 countries to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies has been repeatedly reiterated by G7 leaders in their June 2014 declaration. Despite those heroic announcements, in 2014, G7 countries pledged $8 billion per year in subsidies to expand fossil fuel production.
This year, the G7 leaders met in Elmau for their annual Summit on 7 and 8 June and agreed to limit global warming to 2°C by reducing their carbon emissions, mobilizing $100 billion a year for climate change mitigation, and facilitating more investment in developing nations.
However, they were successful in fooling the world again into believing that they care about the seven-million people a year dying from various pollution and carbon related causes, when they signed a joint declaration calling for a global phasing-out of fossil fuels by 2100 – that’s 85 years from now. They continue to claim to be working at greenhouse gas reduction in at least the upper 40 to 70 per cent range by 2050. There’s also a promise to cut emission by 17 per cent by 2020.
G7 and dour @pmharper say carbon must be done by 2100. Real world data suggests we have less time. Jeff Rubin #carbonbubble #climate
— Mike Bee (@Local_Resilient) June 12, 2015
The G7 Declaration is not binding. No time-frame and no nation-specific targets were set for the agreement on a binding 2°C target for limiting global warming. The declaration goes to Paris in December for the UN Climate Summit.
Opinion: G7 Makes Commitment on Climate … to Climate Chaos http://t.co/LSluytWLhq
— Inter Press Service (@ipsnews) June 11, 2015
Oxfam International, which recently released a report that says coal plants in the G7 countries are on track to cost the world 450 billion dollars a year by the end of the century and reduce crops by millions of tonnes as they fuel the pace of climate change, said the outcome of the two-day summit was inadequate. “If the G7 really want to implement their decisions, they must take concrete measures – such as promptly initiating a phase-out of harmful coal. This lukewarm summit result will only make the fight harder, if not impossible,” said Oxfam climate protection analyst Jan Kowalzig.
Developing countries cannot afford another delay tactic from rich #G7 economies on climate finance http://t.co/dISDxU64bY #SB42
— Oxfam International (@Oxfam) June 12, 2015
According to Climate Action Tracker, the world’s current policies would result in global warming of 3.6°C to 4.2°C by 2100. Even the current pledges of the G7 countries, if converted into effective policies, probably would not be enough for the world to stay under the target of keeping warming to 2°C.
Despite its #G7 climate pledge and lots of wind and sunshine, Japan isn’t embracing renewables http://t.co/dgydObHpt1pic.twitter.com/6QQ0sOLsUa
— The Conversation (@ConversationUK) June 12, 2015
Source:
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/06/08/3667069/g7-prioritizes-climate-change/
