The G7 countries have committed to “gradually elimination coal-generated energy during the first half of the 2030s”.
Italian Environment and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto said Tuesday that this week’s meeting of G7 climate, environment and energy ministers in Turin formed a bridge between last year’s COP 28 UN climate conference and this year’s COP 29.
“It was intense work, important work,” said Pichetto at the end of the two-day meeting.
“This enabled us to vote with conviction this morning (for)… the achievement of the objective of taking a step forward compared to the COP 28 in Dubai – a bridging operation between COP 28 and COP 29 in Baku.
“Naturally, with the G20 alongside us, this shows the importance of the leadership of the most industrialized countries in tackling climate change and reviewing their own paths”.
Elimination of coal-generated energy
The G7 countries have committed to “gradually elimination coal-generated energy during the first half of the 2030s or in a period consistent with keeping the temperature increase within a degree and a half” read the final document of the meeting on G7 environment, energy and climate ministers in Turin.
The G7 pledged to push for an end to the approval of new coal-fired electricity plants at the global level as soon as possible too.
The group also committed to supporting “the tripling of global renewable energy capacity and strengthening energy security by increasing system flexibility through demand response, grid strengthening and smart grid deployment, while also contributing to a global energy storage target in the sector energy of 1,500 GW in 2030, a global target of more than six-fold increase from 230 GW in 2022 also through existing objectives and policies”.
Bologna judge describes road-blockers’ aim ‘noble’
A judge has described as “noble” the aims of three people who blocked traffic on Bologna’s ring road on November 2 to highlight the need to tackle the climate crisis.
The members of the Ultima Generazione (UG – Last Generation) civil-disobedience group were found guilty of private violence and interruption of a public service. The judge handed down a sentence of six months in jail for the protest.
However, the judge accepted that the three had a mitigating circumstance. In the explanation of the ruling released on Tuesday, the judge said they “certainly did not act to satisfy a personal and selfish interest, but for a higher, noble and altruistic purpose, namely the protection of the environment”.
The explanation added there is a “concrete and increasingly alarming risk” of the environment “being irreversibly compromised due to the ongoing climate change”.
The Bologna roadblock was only part of a long series of controversial acts of civil-disobedience staged by the UG to draw attention to the consequences of global heating caused by human greenhouse-gas emissions.
