G7: Leaders fail to address climate emergency and justify ongoing fossil fuel production, says Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
"G7 leaders fail to address climate emergency and justify ongoing fossil fuel production" 21 May 2023
Gathered in Hiroshima, Japan, for a G7 largely dedicated to building lasting world peace, these governments who claim to be ‘climate leaders’ have today framed public investment in fossil fuels as “appropriate” and have called for expansion of an industry that is the primary cause of not only the climate crisis, but multiple conflicts and wars over recent decades.
The final Leaders’ Communiqué included final text such as “we stress the important role that increased deliveries of LNG can play, and acknowledge that investment in the sector can be appropriate” and “publicly supported investment in the gas sector can be appropriate.“ These statements fly in the face of the latest science and undermine any credibility these seven nations hold as climate leaders.
The symbolic choice of Hiroshima - which was the first city to be bombed with an atomic weapon in 1945- highlighted the G7 focus on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. However, G7 countries cannot discuss the construction of sustainable peace globally without addressing the most widespread weapons of mass destruction: oil, gas and coal.
Fossil fuels are the substances responsible for 86% of CO2 emissions in the last decade, fueling the climate crisis but also fueling a series of conflicts across the world, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine that was also on the G7 agenda.
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