G7 Environment in Turin: a historic but fragile agreement to phase out coal by 2035.

The technical agreement reached in Turin during the G7 Environment, Energy and Climate Ministerial meeting represents an important step in the decarbonisation agenda of the seven countries involved. Italy has even announced that it will be phasing out coal within a year, with the exception of Sardinia, which will shut down its last coal-fired power station by 2027. 

This is an interesting signal, at a time when renewable energy production could finally, thanks to China’s acceleration in photovoltaics, overtake coal-fired power generation from 2026 onwards, according to the International Energy Agency’s latest report on electricity production. 

However, according to another report published in April 2023 by the Global Energy Monitor, a group of NGOs, on the state of the world’s coal-fired power stations :

– the G7 countries still account for 15% of the world’s coal-fired power generation, and the rate of plant closures has slowed with the war in Ukraine: could this rate withstand another major geopolitical shock? 

– China, which alone accounts for 55% of the world’s coal consumption, continues to derive two-thirds of its energy from coal and is still authorising massive new construction projects, both at home and in other developing countries;

– India, which is positioning itself as a manufacturing alternative to China, is the world’s second-largest coal consumer, at over 10%, and new projects under way will double its coal-fired power generation capacity, while its government has not committed to carbon neutrality until 2070.

The agreement reached at the G7, if confirmed, is therefore interesting. But the real challenge remains to convince the other G20 economies, including China and India, which have no intention of curbing their economic development by doing without an available and inexpensive source of energy that the G7 economies have exploited without limit since the 19th century.

Beyond these virtuous declarations, technological leaps are needed to produce clean, cheap energy that is more competitive than coal and capable of meeting ever-increasing global energy demand. This means mobilising funding and investing in research and innovation. But are the G7 countries still capable of doing this?

We want to believe so, and these countries still have solid industrial and technological arguments to put forward. It should be noted, however, that such a project did not feature in the conclusions of the last ministerial meeting of industry, technology and digital ministers on 13-15 March, which made only one marginal reference to the importance of energy efficiency.

Perhaps it will be on the agenda of the next meeting of science and technology ministers on 9-11 July? Stay tuned!