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Press Release
G7 Climate and Environment Ministers' Meeting

Important progress to move away from coal.
Kiko Network calls on Japan to agree to a coal phase-out by 2030 at June Summit
May 22, 2021
Kiko Network
Mie Asaoka, President
The G7 Environment Ministers’ Meeting on Climate and Environment, held on May 20 and 21, ended withthe adoption of a joint communiqué. The meeting was held virtually and hosted by the UK, which will also
have the presidency of COP26 (the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change).
One of the top priority topics covered was climate change. The communiqué confirmed that G7 countries
would make ambitious and accelerated efforts to reduce emissions to keep a limit of 1.5°C temperature rise
within reach. Coming after the Japan-U.S. Climate Partnership agreement in April this year, it is significant
that they have made clear the aim is to limit warming to 1.5°C rather than 2.0°C.
One topic that attracted major attention at the G7 meeting was how to deal with coal power generation. Tolimit the temperature rise to 1.5°C, it is clear that a priority must be given to ending the use of coal for power
generation. On this point, the International Energy Agency (IEA) just this week released its “Net Zero by 2050”
showing that the power sector in developed countries must be 100% clean by 2035.
Nevertheless, Japan repeatedly claimed it needs coal power for its domestic circumstances, and deepened its
isolation among G7 countries by strongly opposing an end to funding for coal power overseas and a phase outof coal power domestically. By defending coal to the point of obstructing negotiations Japan has revealed that
it is not prepared to accelerate the energy transition toward net zero by 2050. Despite all of this, Japan could
still not block the accelerating push for decarbonization, and the communiqué shows some progress for the G7.
With the communiqué the countries recognized that coal power generation is the single biggest cause of
global temperature increases, and agreed to commit now to an overwhelmingly decarbonized power system inthe 2030s, and to take concrete steps towards an absolute end to new direct government support for unabatedinternational thermal coal power generation by the end of 2021. It is very significant that they made a major
step toward a coal phase-out.
The communiqué also covers the transition to net zero in major sectors, and represents important agreement
to move ahead in ways consistent with the 1.5°C temperature goal, in terms of energy efficiency, just transition,
phasing down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and increasing climate finance.
This agreement will be a basis for the G7 leaders’ summit set for June 11 to 13. At the upcoming summit,
the government of Japan should not obstruct ambitious G7 consensus-building efforts toward net zero. Rather,based on this communiqué, Japan should consider further raising its 46-50% reduction target announced byPrime Minister Yoshihide Suga in April and prepare to strengthen its policies so that Japan can commit tocompletely phasing out coal power generation by 2030, ending overseas assistance not only for coal power but
also fossil fuel projects, and increasing climate finance by 2025. Nuclear power should not be relied upon toachieve climate targets and enhance climate actions.
●Reference (Ministry of the Environment website):
G7 Climate and Environment: Ministers’ Communiqué (original text)
G7 Climate and Environment: Ministers’ Communiqué (provisional Japanese translation)
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