G7 Closing Communiqué Lacks Urgency Amid Growing Energy Crisis

G7 Closing Communiqué Lacks Urgency Amid Growing Energy Crisis

Emmanuel Macron, France's president, center right, and US President Joe Biden, center left, ... [+] following the family photo on the opening day of the Group of Seven (G-7) leaders summit at the Schloss Elmau luxury hotel in Elmau, Germany, on Sunday, June 26, 2022. Issues on Sunday's formal agenda include the global economy, infrastructure and investment and foreign and security policy, while a number of bilateral meetings are also planned. Photographer: Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/Bloomberg In their summit-closing joint Communiqué, leaders of the G7 nations reaffirmed their " unwavering commitment" to the Paris Climate Agreement, while at the same time weakening their pledge to end "direct public support for the international unabated fossil fuel energy sector by the end of 2022" by adding a qualifier allowing such support in limited circumstances. Presumably, one such limited circumstance would include the deepening energy crisis impacting Europe, which continues to spread to other countries around the world. With Germany and other EU nations currently engaged in a scramble to reactivate mothballed coal and natural gas power plants and to secure supplies of imported liquefied natural gas to replace their dwindling supplies from Russia, the midst of the coming winter would hardly be the time