Present in Dubai, where COP28 is being held, Emmanuel Macron urged the G7 countries on Friday to “commit to ending coal” before 2030 to “set an example”. The president believes that emerging countries must “initiate an absolute shift” to get out of it and that continuing investments in favor of coal “is a real absurdity”.
French President Emmanuel Macron urged G7 countries at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai on Friday to “commit to ending coal” before 2030 to “set an example”. The continuation of investments in favor of coal is “a real absurdity” with regard to the objective of combating global warming, and “so we must initiate an absolute shift” to get out of it, pleaded the French president at the podium of the major UN climate summit.
“The G7 has a major responsibility”
“Emerging countries must get out of coal, and this is the second fight after that which the richest countries must lead,” declared Emmanuel Macron. “But the G7 countries must set an example and commit to putting an end to coal in their countries before the others, that is to say before 2030,” he said, recalling the commitment of the France to close its last coal-fired power plant “by 2027”.
“The G7 has a major responsibility. Just like China, which is now the second historical emitting country and which has therefore changed its status in some way,” underlined the French president. “We must allow emerging countries to catch up economically, it is an element of justice. But this catch-up must not be done on the basis of energies which are carbon-based and in particular coal,” he further argued.
Because “the existing power plants which are largely concentrated in Asia today will alone emit enough CO2 for us to exceed the target of 1.5°C”, the most ambitious objective of the Paris agreement, justified Emmanuel Macron . Regarding France, “we will definitely have to turn the page on oil and 2050 on gas by 2040-45,” he assured.