G7 NATIONS PLEDGE TO END FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES BY 2025

Leaders of the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the EU encourage all countries to join them in eliminating support for coal, oil and gas in a decade.

The G7 nations have for the first time set a deadline for the ending most fossil fuel subsidies, saying government support for coal, oil and gas should end by 2025.

“Given the fact that energy production and use account for around two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions, we recognise the crucial role that the energy sector has to play in combatting climate change,” said the leaders’ declaration, issued at the end their summit in Japan.

Shelagh Whitley, a research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute, called it an “historic day” but said 2020 was a more appropriate date if governments were serious about their commitments to the global climate deal agreed in Paris in December.

Across the G7, subsidies are already falling, assisted by falling commodity prices. A notable exception is the UK, which increased subsidies by opening up new tax breaks for North Sea oil producers. Japan has been criticised for funding new coal projects, both at home and abroad.

“We already see [some in] the G7 going in the wrong direction since Paris. Just because they are saying this [about fossil fuel subsidies], it’s not a fait accompli,” said Whitley. Canada also recently extended some subsidies for natural gas.

Original article to The Inhabitat

Image copyright to The Inhabitat