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Carbis Bay (United Kingdom) (AFP)
From defending the oceans to “clean” recovery, the UK is taking advantage of the G7 summit to mobilize its allies on ecology, hoping to make a good impression months before the COP26 climate conference.
The climate emergency, along with the pandemic, is high on the agenda of the great powers gathered this weekend in the bucolic Carbis Bay, in the southwest of England.
At his inauguration, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reiterated his credo of a “green industrial revolution” to meet environmental challenges and create jobs in the wake of the health crisis.
The United Kingdom, which in November organizes COP26, the United Nations conference on climate, in the Scottish city of Glasgow, has a lot at stake on a political and image level.
The country “has an important moral responsibility to lead on climate issues, both as a historic emitter of CO2 and as the host of these great conferences,” Rebecca Newsom, head of Greenpeace, told AFP.
“We must act or our world leaders will have let us down,” he warned.
– Masks and Pikachu –
This NGO made a spectacular video for the occasion mobilizing 300 drones in the sky to replicate animal forms, urging the G7 to “act now” on climate and biodiversity.
The surroundings of the summit were also the scene of environmental demonstrations, from Oxfam activists with masks reproducing the faces of the leaders, to those who disguised themselves as the famous Pikachu Pokémon to ask Japan to stop using charcoal.
“We hope that President Joe Biden has changed the dynamics and that we see the ambitious goals we need on the climate,” says Max Lawson, an Oxfam activist.
Johnson insists that the G7 countries commit to halving their carbon emissions by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
This was already one of the main advances of the United States during the climate conference organized by Biden in April, which marked the return by Washington to environmental defense.
In Carbis Bay, leaders could also adopt a common position on a ban on new polluting cars, following the example of the UK, which will implement the measure in 2030.
But they are expected to keep a low profile on fossil fuels, despite calls from NGOs for extraction projects to halt.
Johnson is regularly accused of sending mixed signals about the climate crisis, even though the country has enshrined its goal of being carbon neutral by 2050 by law.
The leader flew to the summit from London, a journey of less than an hour, compared to five hours by train.
– Lead by example –
“What impression does this make in the face of the climate negotiations? Lead by example. Take the crisis seriously,” tweeted the NGO Friends of the Earth.
Beyond climate, the G7 must make gestures on biodiversity, and Johnson wants them to commit to protecting “at least 30%” of the land and oceans by this date.
For Ali Tabrizi, director of Seaspiracy, a successful Netflix documentary, it is necessary to move from promises to action and tackle industrial fishing.
“The oceans, for many years, have been neglected as an environmental issue. We have lost 90% of the big fish in recent decades and many species are on the brink of extinction,” he explained to AFP.
On the climate front, the key issue remains that of finance, to encourage developing countries to play their part, without which it will be impossible to respect the Paris climate agreements.
The Climate Action Network calls on major countries to take a step forward to contribute to the energy transition. The G7 has already committed to an infrastructure plan with a climate component.
“Without an announcement of increased funding, the chances of success of the climate negotiations at COP26 in Glasgow in November diminish,” says Aurore Mathieu, head of the NGO. In his opinion, “it is a matter of climate justice.”
© 2021 AFP
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