G7 will stop money for coal-fired power plants from 2022 – klimareporter °

of Susanne Schwarz

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The rich countries of the “Group of Seven” do not want to put any more government money into coal-fired power plants from the coming year. The aim is to “keep 1.5 degrees within reach”, ie limit global warming to 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times.

That goes out of the common Final declaration published by the G7 environment and energy ministers on Friday after a two-day video session.

The G7 countries had already committed themselves in 2016 not to invest in fossil fuels at all. But it should only from 2025 apply and only to “inefficient” investments – a formulation that is hard to beat in terms of vagueness.

Hardly any less vaguely, the ministers repeated the five-year-old promise: “We will receive new direct state support for CO₂– phase out intensive fossil fuels, except to a limited extent at the discretion of each country. “

In relation to coal, however, they became more specific. “We emphasize that international investments in not CO₂-Diminished coal power must stop now “, it says in the final document,” and commit us to concrete steps towards a complete phasing out of new direct government support for non-CO₂-to undertake reduced coal power by the end of 2021. “That includes development aid, investments, export, trade and financial policy.

Japan had initially resisted such a step, but was then able to bring itself to support the paper. He spoke of a “clear signal that coal is being phased out” Alok Sharma, the President of the next world climate conference COP 26 in Great Britain.

However, the clarity is clouded by the wording “not CO₂– reduced coal power “. Money for coal-fired power plants with CCS technology, in which the CO₂ If it is to be intercepted and disposed of underground, it can continue to flow.

The US climate commissioner John Kerry praised the fact that the G7 countries have all committed to the 1.5 degree target for the first time. The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement is not so strict here and aims to limit global warming to “well below two degrees”, but if possible to 1.5 degrees.

In the meantime, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has come to the conclusion in its 1.5-degree special report that global warming by two degrees makes dangerous climate change much more likely. The states – all 194 are part of the Paris Agreement – deal with it differently.

Electricity should be “largely decarbonised” by 2030

Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) also spoke of “great progress”. On the international stage, the minister even supported what she was doing after the new version of the Climate Protection Act in Germany not explicitly as a conclusion wants to draw.

According to the final declaration, the G7 wants to have “largely decarbonised” its electricity sector by 2030. That means: At the end of the decade, in principle, no more electricity should come from oil, gas and, above all, coal, not even with G7 member Germany.

According to the coal phase-out law, the last coal-fired power plant in Germany can run until 2038. In the opinion of many experts, however, the planned increase in the climate targets requires that it will end by 2030 at the latest. That has one, for example Analysis of the electricity market analyst Energy Brainpool revealed this week.

Schulze has responded to the question since announcement evading reform plans, although she had previously spoken out in favor of phasing out coal by 2030. With the G7 declaration, it has now probably changed that – even if the commitment only refers to electricity and is “largely” provided with a loophole. What this means in the final declaration is that natural gas could still be used for a limited time – not coal.