G7 Ministers' Meeting Wraps Up on Climate, Energy & Nature Protection

The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, and the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, have concluded this year's G7 Ministers' Meeting on Climate, Energy, and Environment, which took place in Sapporo, Japan, from April 15-16.

The Ministers came to champion increased ambition on climate action, nature protection, and pollution reduction, while at the same time advancing global energy security and seizing economic opportunities for Canadian businesses, workers, communities, and Indigenous peoples.

On climate action and energy, Canada, recognizing that climate policy is security policy is economic policy, along with G7 countries:

• Made new commitments, championed by Canada, to report by the end of the year on the progress to phase out fossil fuel subsidies and international fossil fuel finance. Canada has already ended international fossil fuel finance and is committed to phasing out fossil fuel subsidies by the end of 2023 ahead of the G7's 2025 commitment and called on others to do the same.
• Committed to accelerate the phase-out of unabated fossil fuels in combustion applications and called on other non-G7 countries to do the same, consistent with Canada's 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan and the need to apply large-scale decarbonizing technologies and practices to achieve net-zero.
• Reiterated its goal to phase out unabated coal power generation consistent with a 1.5^oC compatible future. As the co-chair of the Powering Past Coal Alliance, Canada is committed to phasing out unabated coal by 2030, and advocated over the weekend for the G7 and all Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries to follow.
• Advanced a goal to decarbonize each country's respective power sector by 2035 and welcomed the ambitious collective renewable energy targets of 150 gigawatts for offshore wind and 1 terawatt for solar photovoltaic power by 2030. In this year's Budget, Canada has committed historic clean-energy investments and tax credits supporting good paying jobs, affordability, and clean growth.
• Recognizing that critical minerals are essential to a secure energy transition, G7 countries affirmed that strong environmental, social, and governance standards are vital to align global security and sustainability goals and endorsed a Five Point Plan for Critical Mineral Security, which builds on Canada's leadership with the Sustainable Critical Minerals Alliance.
• Encouraged the use of taxonomies for sustainable finance, and noted the work being undertaken by some G7 members to develop such taxonomies to enable investment decisions to align with climate objectives.
• Reiterated common commitments and called for increased climate ambition through the implementation of carbon markets and pricing initiatives like the Global Carbon Pricing Challenge, accelerating the phase-out of thermal coal, reducing methane emissions, and using nature-based solutions.
• On the margins of the ministerial, Minister Wilkinson participated in a Nuclear Energy Forum co-hosted by Japan and the US, where nuclear industry players agreed to a Joint Statement on Nuclear Industrial Cooperation.

On environmental protection and pollution reduction, Canada and G7 countries:

• Celebrated the historic adoption of the the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework and urged all countries to support its swift and full implementation and urgently develop and publish plans to implement their biodiversity commitments, including protecting at least 30 percent of land and water by 2030, both nationally and globally.
• Reaffirmed their commitment to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030.
• Committed to support global efforts to mobilize financial resources from all sources to demonstrate progress to close the global biodiversity finance gap and pushed for the successful launch of the Global Biodiversity Fund in Vancouver at the Global Environment Facility Assembly later this year.
• Committed to end plastic pollution by 2040 and agreed to continue to work together toward an ambitious new international binding agreement on plastic pollution, including at the upcoming negotiations in May.
• During the ministerial, Minister Guilbeault announced that Canada would contribute over $5 million to the United Nations Environment Programme to help ensure inclusive, equitable, and transparent negotiations toward an ambitious and effective legally-binding global agreement on plastic pollution and other key priorities, including nature-based solutions and methane reduction.