Watered-down G7 climate commitments dismay activists

[Lil Liberal Laura]

Source: Reuters

June 28, 2022
12:32 PM

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany, June 28 (Reuters) - Climate activists reacted with dismay on Tuesday to a decision by G7 leaders, prompted partly by the energy crisis resulting from the war in Ukraine, to grant a host of stays and exceptions to climate protection goals they had previously set themselves.

The Group of Seven industrialised democracies allowed themselves leeway to continue using non-offset fossil fuel investments in "exceptional" circumstances, despite an earlier commitment to end public support for them by end-2022.

They also dropped a commitment to making half of all vehicles zero-emission by 2030, following pressure from Japan, replacing it with a vaguer promise to "significantly" increase their sales, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

President Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine has cast a harsh spotlight on Europe's heavy energy dependence on Russia. With flows of Russian gas dwindling, governments have been looking to alternatives, including allowing coal power stations to run for longer.

"What we see in the climate outcome right now is much less than what is needed," said Martin Kaiser, head of Greenpeace Germany, suggesting that U.S. and European auto makers had also played a role in watering down commitments on zero-emissions vehicles.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/g7-aims-form-climate-club-pursue-net-zero-by-2050-communique-2022-06-28/

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[Dysfunctional]

1. And this is why very little will be done about climate change.

[oldsoftie]

2. If Putin isn't defeated it won't MATTER what "commitment" is made.

PUTIN is a bigger threat to the world than the warming climate. Its imperative that he and russia be DEFEATED.
Its likely going to warm anyway.

[Brenda]

3. No he is not.

This nuclear war panic is just like the terrorist under every rock panic.

Short term goals only line the pockets of military contractors and their investors.

[oldsoftie]

4. Yes, he is. He proves it every day. You're fine with daily slaughter?

he isn't just threatening it he's DOING it. And he's stated more than once that he wants all formerly Russian controlled lands back under their control. Poland and the Baltic states all warned us for years that he would attack UKR. When he finally did it in '14, we did little. He sees it as a sign of weakness. He doesnt care about his troops or how many die. He sees himself as a Peter the Great. READ about this man. Read what our own experts have said before this war started.
This fantasy of stopping climate change when the biggest contributors won't play only helps Putin. Who, BTW, is pouring a LOT of gasses into the air burning up a country.
When someone shows you who they are, believe them.

[Kaleva]

5. The battle against climate change was lost years ago

Way to few people have made the effort to adapt to a net zero emission lifestyle

[Magoo48]

6. If climate catastrophe isn't addressee seriously, all actions by leaders both good and evil are moot

[oldsoftie]

7. I'd rather deal with the climate later than give up freedom today.

Its highly likely that we'll have to deal with a warmer climate regardless of any back slapping "agreements" that are made anyway.

[hunter]

8. WTF do the "Greens" know? Especially in Germany...

... where their initiatives were a colossal failure. Burning Russian natural gas to support their solar and wind fantasies was never going to end well.

California suffers a similar hypocrisy. We burn fracked natural gas imported from Republican hell, we celebrate "biofuels," and we bulldoze pristine environments for crappy solar and wind "farms" that won't save the world.