The energy ministers of the G20 countries, meeting in India on Saturday July 22, failed to agree on a timetable for gradually reducing the use of fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal). Their final statementpublished at the end of the meeting in Goa, does not even mention coal, yet one of the big contributors to global warming.
Coal is also one of the main sources of energy for many developing economies, including India, the most populous country in the world, or China, the world’s second largest economy. This failure to agree comes despite the desire displayed by the leaders of the G7, in April in Sapporo (northern Japan), to“accelerate” their ” exit “ fossil fuels and global temperatures hit record highs, causing heat waves, floods and fires.
To explain this impasse, India, which chairs the G20, explained that some of the members wanted a “reduction of “unabated” fossil fuels”, i.e. not backed by carbon capture or storage devices, “in accordance with the different national circumstances”. While of“others have a different opinion on the fact that capture technologies [de] and carbon storage meet these needs”.
“Humanity cannot afford to wait”
A coalition of eighteen countries, including France and Germany, led by the Marshall Islands, demanded last Friday “an urgent exit from fossil fuels” And “a peak in greenhouse gases by 2025”believing that “humanity cannot afford to wait”.
This coalition calls for a 43% reduction in global emissions by 2030 compared to 2019, in order to respect the limit of 1.5 degrees of increase, in accordance with the calculations of United Nations climate experts. However, many developing countries believe that the rich countries, which are the biggest polluters, should finance the energy transition more. India in particular has set a goal of net zero emissions for 2070, twenty years later than many other countries.
A report preparing India’s presidency of the G20 estimated the cost of the energy transition at $4 trillion (3,592 billion euros) per year and underlined the importance of low-cost financing for technology transfers and developing countries, a recurring request from New Delhi.
Reluctant oil producers
Some big oil producers are also reluctant to exit fossil fuels quickly. Ed King of the Global Strategic Communications Council (GSCC) climate communications network blamed Russia and Saudi Arabia in particular for the lack of progress in Saturday’s talks. These countries have “blocked efforts for an agreement on a tripling of clean energies aimed at reducing fossil fuels”he lamented on Twitter.
The CEO of UAE oil company Adnoc, Ahmed Al-Jaber, who will chair the COP28 negotiations, said he expects fossil fuels to continue to play a role, however small, with the controversial help of carbon capture or storage devices. However, he felt that their reduction was ” inevitable “ And “essential”but that realism made it impossible to do without it overnight.