G7 move forward with renewables, but fall short on fossil fuel phase out: G7 countries agreed to increase their 2030 targets for solar and wind production, but failed to see eye-to-eye on a deadline for phasing out coal as the two-day ministerial meetings on climate policy concluded in Japan on Sunday, Reuters reports. G7 ministers also agreed to accelerate the phase-out of unabated fossil fuels to reach net zero by 2050.

The group came in strong with higher renewables targets: The G7 ministers agreed to collectively increase their offshore wind energy to reach 150 GW and solar energy production to over 1 TW by 2030, according to the newswire. These goals aim to triple solar capacity and boost offshore wind generation seven-fold from 2021 levels across the group by the end of this decade, Bloomberg reported.

But a deadline for coal phase out wavered: With support from host country Japan, the US and the EU, ministers opted to reaffirm the commitment made in last year’s G7 statement to achieve a “fully” or “predominantly” decarbonized power sector by 2035” — leaving the door open for new investments, according to Reuters. This comes in opposition to a UK proposal backed by Canada and France to set a strict 2030 deadline for phasing out unabated domestic coal power generation, a draft communique circulating before the meetings revealed. Germany had offered a third alternative that emphasized the goal of phasing out domestic unabated coal power generation “ideally by 2030” or “in the 2030s.”

There was back and forth on natgas ahead of the meetings: Japan was pushing for language supporting investments in LNG, contending that new upstream investments in gas are needed given the energy shortage caused by sanctions on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine last year. But several countries pushed back, leading to a backtrack in previous language anticipating growing future demand for LNG.

And fossil fuel funding is still pouring in: Despite the G7 pledging last year to “end new direct public support for the international unabated fossil fuel energy sector by the end of 2022,” G7 funding for fossil fuel projects between 2020 and 2022 reached USD 73 bn — more than double what was spent on renewables in the same period, Bloomberg said, citing a report by nonprofit group Oil Change International released earlier this month. Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Japanese Nippon Export and Investment Ins. committed USD 655 mn for a new 1.6 MW natgas power plant in Uzbekistan earlier this year.

Climate finance accessibility got a shoutout: COP28 President-Designate Sultan Al Jaber called on the G7 to take the lead on making climate finance more accessible and throw support towards accelerating a “new green [agreement],” Wam reports. The green agreement would cover mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage, Al Jaber added. Ahead of the G7 discussion Al Jaber met with Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to talk through “productive climate action and cooperation in the run up to COP28,” according to a statement.

And the Global Biodiversity Framework got an affirmative nod: G7 ministers committed to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework passed during COP15 in Montreal last December, according to a UK statement. The agreement vows to protect 30% of the planet’s oceans and lands by 2030 by seeing wealthy countries increase their contributions to aid for biodiversity to USD 25 bn annually starting 2025 and USD 30 bn annually by 2030.

IN OTHER CLIMATE DIPLO NEWS- KSA and the Netherlands talk hydrogen exports: Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman met with the Netherlands’ Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra last week in Riyadh to discuss jointly establishing a clean hydrogen corridor from KSA to Europe, Zawya reports. The Dutch port of Rotterdam would facilitate the entry of Saudi-produced green fuels into the continent.