G7 leaders urged to stop funding the climate crisis

The Planetary Emergency Partnership has written to the G7 leaders calling for urgent financial reforms to help tackle the climate crisis. 

In a letter written to the G7 Heads of State for government, the letter calls for urgent financial reforms to fully align public and private finance with the Paris Agreement and 2030 Biodiversity goals.

The letter urges the leaders to take the five following key decisions:

1. Commit to slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030
2. Back the G7 Climate and Environment Ministers’ Communique – this explicitly calls for the world to become nature-positive by 2030 by reversing biodiversity loss. The letter states that a percentage of global corporation tax should be allocated to the Green Climate Fund.
3. End fossil fuel and agricultural subsidies by 2025 – according to the letter, indirect subsidies for fossil fuels currently amount to $5.3 trillion, and agricultural subsidies amount to $700bn.
4. End new fossil energy investments by 2021 – between 2017 and 2019, the G7 provided $86 billion in public finance for fossil fuels, of which 88% went to oil and gas – three times as much support compared to clean energy.
5. Require mandatory due diligence and transparency

The authors of the letter highlight that the G7 has an important role to play, with their political signal informing the level of ambition across the world.

Professor Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute Climate Impact Research, said: ‘We don’t expect more miracles, but we demand urgent action commensurate with the scale of the challenges facing the world.

‘Two years ago, we published the Planetary Emergency Plan in an attempt to provide a science-led roadmap on how to emerge from this emergency.

‘The post-Covid recovery presents an opportunity to truly bounce forward to build hope and drive action to respond to the human health, economic, climate and biodiversity crises with long-term solutions that will build resilient and regenerative societies.’

To read the full letter, click here. 

Photo credit – NASA