G7 ministers meeting in Japan. Image credit Twitter page of Jonathan Wilkinson
The G7 members, which include the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Japan — set big new collective targets at meeting in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo on Sunday for solar power and offshore wind capacity, media reports said.
Renewable fuel sources and energy security have taken on a new urgency following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, G7 ministers at the meeting agreed to speed up renewable energy development and move toward a quicker phase-out of fossil fuels.
In their meeting, the members pledged to collectively increase offshore wind capacity by 150 gigawatts by 2030 and solar capacity to more than one terawatt as well as to achieve net zero in energy systems by 2050 at the latest.
“In the midst of an unprecedented energy crisis, it’s important to come up with measures to tackle climate change and promote energy security at the same time,” Japanese Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told a news conference and added,
“While acknowledging that there are diverse pathways to achieve carbon neutral, we agreed on the importance of aiming for a common goal toward 2050.”
“The solar and wind commitments are huge statements to the importance that they will rely on the energy superpowers of solar and wind in order to phase out fossil fuels,” Dave Jones, head of data insights at energy think-tank Ember was reported saying.
“Hopefully this will provide a challenge to Japan, for which offshore wind is the missing part of the jigsaw that could see its power sector decarbonize much quicker than it thought possible.”
Host country Japan wants to keep liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a transition fuel for at least 10 to 15 years as it depends on imports for nearly all of its energy needs.
The G7 members said investment in the gas sector, if implemented in a manner consistent with climate objectives can be appropriate to address potential market shortfalls provoked by the crisis in Ukraine.
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