G7 Ministers Meet to Discuss Energy Security Amid Russia-Ukraine War

VIVA – G7 Ministers start their two-day meeting in Sapporo, Japan, on Saturday to discuss how to improve energy security amid the Russia-Ukraine war, while at the same time accelerating decarbonization efforts. 

The G7 meeting on climate, energy, and environmental issues was the first in a series of in-person ministerial meetings ahead of the summit in May. 

The focus of the meeting was on whether there could be a common voice on ambitious goals to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, including in the power and vehicle sectors.

Last year, G7 summit led by Germany, member states agreed to fully or largely decarbonize the power sector by 2035. 

Unfortunately, last year's meeting failed to agree on a specific timetable for phasing out coal-fired power plants, due to disapproval from resource-poor Japan, which plans to continue relying on the relatively cheap but polluting fossil fuel.

For this second meeting, the UK and Canada have tried to eliminate the phrase "primarily" and push for full decarbonization in the power sector by 2035, while Germany is among the countries calling for an end to the use of coal power that is not mitigated with technologies to reduce emissions, according to negotiating sources.

Another focus is the G7 ministers' commitment to promoting zero-emission vehicles, including whether they will set market share targets for such vehicles or even a time frame for phasing out fossil fuel vehicles.

However, Japan is believed to be reluctant to agree to this as its major automakers excel in gasoline-electric and plug-in electric hybrids.

The meeting comes amid growing calls to accelerate efforts to curb global warming, with the UN climate panel calling for more ambitious action in its March report, noting that "Choices and actions implemented in this decade will have an impact now and for millennia to come."

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report concluded that for global temperature rise to be kept to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels – the goal under the Paris Agreement – the world needs to halve CO2 emissions by 2030 from 2019 levels and cut them by 65 percent by 2035.

Russia's war in Ukraine is considered to have posed a challenge to decarbonization, as countries that rely on oil and natural gas from Russia move to diversify and secure stable energy supplies, including coal, according to the International Energy Agency.

The G7 meeting, chaired by Japanese Environment Minister Akihiro Nishimura and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura, will also discuss how to prevent biodiversity loss. 

Sources in the negotiations said that the G7 plans to form an economic coalition aimed at achieving positive natural conditions or reversing natural losses.

The coalition, which will work with a global group pushing for financial disclosure on the state of nature, will aim to help financial institutions properly evaluate the environmental impact of companies they are considering investing in, according to the source.

G7 ministers are expected to come up with guidelines to encourage companies to produce easily recyclable products, as demand for rare metals is expected to increase amid the widespread use of electric vehicles.

There is also a need to ensure a transparent and sustainable supply of critical minerals to improve energy security when the production of rare metals including lithium and cobalt is dependent on certain countries such as China. The G7 group includes the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, also the European Union.