Environmentalists criticized the decision of leaders meeting in Japan to support building new infrastructure for liquefied natural gas, a fossil fuel that is warming the planet.
In its final statement, the Group of Seven countries said that “investment in this sector could be appropriate to deal with the current crisis, and to address the potential shortage in the gas market resulting from the Russian-Ukrainian war.”
“In the exceptional circumstances of accelerating our phasing out of our dependence on Russian energy, subsidized investment in the gas sector could be appropriate as a temporary response,” she added.
She also said that this must be done in a manner consistent with efforts to reduce global warming.
Tracy Carty of Greenpeace International said the approval of the new fossil gas infrastructure was “an outright denial of the climate emergency”.
“Fossil gas is one of the most polluting forms of energy, and in its liquefied form, its carbon emissions can be as bad as coal,” she added.
Friederike Roeder of the Global Citizen group said Germany’s role in the G7 talks “was particularly disappointing”.
“The EU’s role in international climate diplomacy is critical, but if Germany, as the largest member state, continues to focus its negotiating power on new gas investments rather than leading the way to a fossil-fuel-free future, this will not be possible,” she added.
German government spokesman Steffen Heppestreit noted that all G7 countries have now set targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions to “net zero” by the middle of the century or earlier, which means the gas will only be used for another 27 years at most.
“There will be a need for gas for this period as well,” he told reporters in Berlin.
“In the past, Germany has never said that it completely refuses to exploit new gas fields,” Heppestreit said.
At their meeting in Hiroshima, the G7 leaders also expressed support for energy saving measures and the rapid implementation of renewable energy generation such as wind and solar power.
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