SCHLOSS ELMAU, Germany, June 26 (Reuters) – Some G7 leaders are pushing for recognition of the need for new funding to invest in fossil fuels, two sources told Reuters on Sunday, as European countries seek to diversify their supplies in the context of the war in Ukraine.
Delegations at the annual G7 summit are debating whether such recognition can be brought into line with some countries’ commitment at COP26 to suspend funding for international fossil fuel projects by the end of 2022.
“(It is) possible that there is a formula in the declaration that fossil fuel investments should be possible for a while,” an EU diplomat said on the first day of the annual G7 summit at Schloss. Elmau in the Bavarian Alps.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, whose country also depends on Russian supplies, publicly declared on Sunday that there were short-term needs for investment in gas infrastructure “in developing countries and elsewhere”.
At a press conference on a G7 investment plan in developing countries, he said it should be possible to convert such infrastructure to use hydrogen in the future.
European countries are suffering from a shortage of energy imported from Russia as the conflict in Ukraine escalates and concern grows about the effects on industry in countries particularly dependent on Moscow.
The European Union depended on Russia for 40% of its gas needs before the war, a level which reached 55% for Germany.
One of the sources said that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz – the chairman of the G7 – had put the issue of new infrastructure on the agenda of the leaders and that discussions were underway on whether to include it in the final declaration of the summit.
A German government spokesman declined to comment.
“It’s about how do we achieve the climate transition despite using gas as a form of transitional energy and how do we make sure that’s not used as an excuse to relax climate targets?” an official said on Saturday. of the German government. (Report Angelo Amante and Andreas Rinke, French version Benjamin Mallet)