TURIN, Italy - Energy ministers from the Group of Seven (G-7) major democracies agreed on April 30 to end the use of coal in power generation “during the first half of (the) 2030s”, according to an official communique.

However, in a caveat, the statement included an alternative goal of phasing out coal-fired power plants “in a timeline consistent with keeping a limit of a 1.5 deg C temperature rise within reach, in line with countries’ net-zero pathways”.

The caveat was included in the final wording of the communique to grant room for manoeuvre to Germany and Japan, whose coal-fired plants produce more than one-fourth of their total electricity, diplomatic sources had told Reuters.

Germany has written into its legislation a final target to shut coal plants by 2038 at the latest, while Japan has not set a date.

The agreement on coal marks a significant step in the direction indicated in 2023 by the COP28 United Nations climate summit to phase out fossil fuels, of which coal is the most polluting.

“It helps accelerate the shift of investments from coal to clean technology in particular in Japan and more broadly in the whole Asian coal economy, including China and India,” Mr Luca Bergamaschi, co-founding member of Italian climate change think-tank Ecco, said on X.

Italy in 2023 produced 4.7 per cent of its total electricity through its six remaining coal-fired stations. The country plans to turn off its plants by 2025, except in Sardinia, where the deadline is 2028.

In Germany and Japan, coal has a bigger role, with the share of electricity produced by the fuel higher than 25 per cent of their total in 2023.

Italy, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan also said they recognise that cutting Russian energy revenues is essential to support Ukraine and promised to work on transitioning away from imports of Russian gas.

They, however, did not agree on any common position on potential sanctions on Russian liquefied natural gas. REUTERS