And then there were six: At the G7 environment Ministers of six industrial countries meeting in Bologna reaffirmed their commitment to the implementation of the Paris climate agreement. The USA is isolated in the final Declaration.
The final Declaration at the Meeting of the G7 environment Ministers is a clear Position for ambitious climate protection and at the same time a clear rejection of the climate policy of the US Administration under President Donald Trump.
The G7 environment Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the environment – and climate-commissioners of the EU reaffirm in the Declaration the Paris Convention as a global Instrument for the effective implementation of the climate protection and as an “irreversible agreement” to limit global warming, and that it will not use the that this “rises above 1.5 degrees Celsius”.
The US government is distancing itself in a footnote to the agreement of the line of the other G7 countries in terms of climate protection and the “financial commitments”. The decision of US President, Trump, the agreement to terminate is, in the opinion of the French Minister for the environment, Nicolas Hulot, however, no reason to be in a “mood of Catastrophe”. The fight against climate warming could even be accelerated.
Growth drivers for renewable energy
The head of the UN environment programme, UNEP, Erik Solheim stressed that the other six industrial countries were determined “absolutely” to remain in the climate issue, on the Ball – “no matter what happens in the White house”. In the area of green and renewable energy, there is a “plethora of new Jobs”. It could be made a lot more money than the fossil energy.
Similarly, see also the other the Minister of the environment. “Climate protection is not a Jobkiller. Rather, he creates the basis for peace, prosperity and sustainable economic development,” said Federal environment Minister Barbara Hendricks: A modern climate protection policy offers “great opportunities for growth and jobs. We have discussed this at length.”
Make big plans: G7 environment Ministers at a Meeting in Bologna, Italy.
Subsidies swipe
At the Meeting in Bologna, all the six Ministers of the environment agreed except the United States, the rapid and full implementation of the Paris climate agreement and the development of ambitious plans for the reduction of carbon dioxide in the own countries up to 2020. In the communiqué, the Ministers emphasize the opportunities of the Paris agreement “as an opportunity to modernize our economies, to boost competitiveness and to promote employment and growth”. As an important market Instrument, the introduction of a CO2 price is seen to be paid for the pollution of the atmosphere with CO2.
In addition, the Ministers reaffirm the abolition of subsidies for fossil fuels by 2025. They stimulate in addition to design tax systems so that they comply with the climate protection targets in line.
In the case of funding, there is a need for action: The government representative on demand for the first time, the public development banks, all of their investments to the requirements of the Paris agreement, and to make it difficult so that climate-damaging investments. Moreover, they reaffirm the responsibility of the industrialised countries to mobilise by 2020 to 100 billion US-dollars for the support of climate protection and adaptation to the impacts of climate change in poor countries.
Dialogue even with the distance: the Minister of the environment Barbara Hendricks and the head of the U.S. environmental protection Agency, Epa, to Scott Pruitt
Agreement without Trump also at the G20?
“I would expressly like to thank my Italian colleague, the Minister of the environment Gian Luca Galletti,” says Minister of the environment Hendricks after the meeting. “We have been able to address in politically challenging times, our attention to a positive Agenda. The G7 is a Forum for cooperation, especially in environmental and climate issues. This is what we have today, as yesterday proved.”
A lot of praise for the G7-Meeting of the development and environmental organisations: “Bologna sends a clear message to Washington and to the Rest of the world: The United States will remain with Trumps denial when it comes to climate protection in isolation. The Paris climate agreement is not negotiable,” says Greenpeace expert Andree Böhling.
The unity of the rest of the G6 countries, however, is only of value if it is backed by deeds. Now is the time to screw the national climate goals. “The rapid development of the renewable energies makes it possible,” says Böhling. “The President of France, Macron has already announced plans to do when it comes to climate protection, as his country has previously promised. Up to the G20 summit in Hamburg, Angela Merkel, and other heads of state must follow.”
Also, Germanwatch praises Meeting of the G7 as a “clear Position in relation to trump’s course” and encouraging Signal that the US-government success can be achieved. However, the challenge for the Success of the G20 meeting in early July in Hamburg under the German presidency, was even bigger, “because countries such as Saudi Arabia and Russia, who live mainly from fossil fuels, sitting next to Donald Trump at the table,” says Christoph Bals, policy Director of germanwatch. “The more important a clear Signal that the Rest of the world has recognized the signs of the time.”