International Business: Opec urged to play key role in easing energy supplies – Gulf Digital News

International Business: Opec urged to play key role in easing energy supplies – Gulf Digital News

BERLIN: Ministers from the Group of Seven countries yesterday called on Opec to act responsibly to ease a global energy crunch brought on by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, even as they announced a breakthrough commitment to phase out coal-fuelled power.

The call, made at the end of three-day talks in Berlin focused on climate change, underscored that the world’s major economies were grappling with how to contain inflation and higher energy prices while sticking to environmental goals.

Opec and its allies, a group known as Opec+, has so far rebuffed Western calls for a faster increase in oil production to lower surging prices.

“We call on oil and gas producing countries to act in a responsible manner and to respond to tightening international markets, noting that Opec has a key role to play,” said a communique at the end of the G7 talks.

Ministers from the G7 group stressed that they would not let the energy crisis derail efforts to fight climate change.

They announced a commitment yesterday to work to phase out coal-powered energy, although failed to set a date for doing so.

The commitment was weaker than a previous draft of the final communique seen by Reuters, which had included a target to