By Danielle | Source

The Group of Seven (G7) nations announced its members intend to sign a deal to phase out the use of coal-fired power plants between 2030 and 2035.

“At the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) held in Dubai during December 2023, it was decided that to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C the G7 group of industrialised nations – consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US – must phase out coal by 2030 and fully decarbonise electricity by 2035,” Engineering And Technology wrote.

#BREAKING G7 agrees to phase out coal-fired power plants by mid-2030s pic.twitter.com/pKsllarpvD

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 30, 2024

Reuters reports Germany and Japan may have leeway since their “coal-fired plants produce more than one-fourth of their total electricity.”

Per Reuters:

Germany has written in its legislation a final target to shut coal plants by 2038 at the latest, while Japan has not set a date.

The agreement on coal would mark a significant step in the direction indicated last year by the COP28 United Nations climate summit to phase out fossil fuels, of which coal is the most polluting.

The G7 ministers’ final communique is expected to be published in the early afternoon when ministers from Italy, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan will rubber stamp a technical agreement reached on Monday.

Italian Energy Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, who chairs the G7 meeting, said the ministers were also discussing potential restrictions to Russian imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe.

Engineering And Technology reports:

In an interview with CNBC, Andrew Bowie, the UK minister for nuclear and renewables, described the agreement reached as “historic” and stated that “we do have an agreement to phase out coal in the first half of the 2030s”.

According to an article in the Financial Times, a statement from sources at the G7 meeting said the final agreement could, however, include leeway in the planned timeline to include the option of a date “consistent with keeping a limit of 1.5C temperature rise [above pre-industrial levels] within reach, in line with countries’ net zero pathways”.

This would help G7 countries heavily reliant on coal, such as Japan. According to energy think tank Ember, while electricity generation from coal has shrunk by 35% across the G7 group of nations since 2015, in Japan coal still accounts for almost a third of electricity production.

A spokesperson for the G7 meeting confirmed that the outlines of the coal phase-out deal will be formally announced once the meeting has concluded.

Meanwhile, at the end of last week, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it has finalised a suite of rules that has set stricter emissions standards for power plants. Indeed, if long-term coal power plants plan to operate beyond 2039, they must cut or capture 90% of their carbon pollution.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released rules last week that will mandate some power plants to capture carbon emissions to fight fictional climate change.

“Coal plants slated to keep running beyond 2039 have CO2 capture requirements that begin in 2032,” Axios reports.

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a suite of final rules to reduce pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants in order to protect all communities from pollution and improve public health without disrupting the delivery of reliable electricity,” the EPA stated in a press release.

“These rules, finalized under separate authorities including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, will significantly reduce climate, air, water, and land pollution from the power sector, delivering on the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to protect public health, advance environmental justice, and confront the climate crisis,” the press release continued.

“Experts say new EPA power plant rules will drive up energy costs and further destabilize U.S. grid,” investigative journalist John Solomon noted.