G7 leaders will pledge Sunday to increase their financial contributions, to fulfill a long overdue pledge to spend $ 100 billion a year to help the poorest countries reduce carbon emissions and tackle global warming.
As part of the plans estimated to help accelerate the financing of infrastructure projects in developing countries and a shift to renewable and sustainable technology, the world’s seven most advanced economies will re-commit to meeting the goal.
Some environmental groups were unimpressed. Greenpeace UK said G7 host British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had “simply reheated old promises” and would take “nothing for granted” until nations presented the money.
“Protecting our planet is the most important thing we can do as leaders for our people,” Johnson said in a statement.
“As democratic nations we have a responsibility to help developing countries reap the benefits of clean growth through a fair and transparent system. The G7 has an unprecedented opportunity to drive the global Green Industrial Revolution, with the potential to transform the way we live, “he added.
It did not provide details or figures for the new commitments.
Developed countries agreed at the United Nations in 2009 to contribute $ 100 billion each year by 2020 in financing for the poorest countries, many of which are grappling with rising seas, storms and droughts made worse by climate change.
That goal was not met, affected in part by the coronavirus pandemic that forced the British government to postpone the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26) until this year.
G7 leaders would also establish actions to reduce carbon emissions, including measures such as ending almost all direct government support for the fossil fuel energy sector abroad and phasing out gasoline and diesel cars.
“Today’s natural world is greatly diminished. That is undeniable. Our climate is warming rapidly. That is beyond question. Our societies and nations are uneven and sadly that is evident,” said British naturalist David Attenborough, advocate. of the people for COP26, who will address the G7 leaders via video message on Sunday.
Attenborough added that the question for 2021 was whether the world was about to destabilize the planet. “If so, then the decisions we make in this decade, in particular the decisions made by the most economically advanced nations, are the most important in human history.”
