G7 Energy, historic agreement: exit from coal by 2035

The G7 Climate, Energy and Environment G8 reaches an agreement on the definitive exit from coal, the deadline for which should be set by 2035. The UK Energy Minister, Andrew Bowie, announced the agreement, which will be set down in black and white in the press release that will close the summit at the Reggia di Venaria on 30 April, at the microphones of Class Cnbc. "We have an agreement to get out of coal in the first half of the 2030s. This is a historic agreement bearing in mind that we failed to meet the target at Cop28 in Dubai last year. So to be able to have the G7 countries around the table sending a signal to the world that the advanced economies are ready to move away from coal is incredible".

On the most divisive chapter at the heart of the G7 ministers' confrontation, a compromise arrives that puts everyone in agreement, both those who continue to support the use of coal as a transitional source and those who, like France, call for a very stringent timetable for both the definitive abandonment of lignite and the exit from oil and gas. On the final compromise, there also comes the go-ahead from Japan, which, although it has committed to achieving net zero emissions by 20250 and to clean coal, has not indicated a specific timetable for the final exit.

With the agreement, which will also be made official by the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Italy thus brings home a first result for this appointment that sees the participation of thirty-two heads of delegation, from the representatives of the G7 countries to those of the European Commission, passing through a large delegation of external countries, from Algeria to Brazil, the next G20 presidency.

In short, the coal chapter is about to be definitively filed away, even in Italy where, as Pichetto Fratin himself had explained in recent days, the government is intent on tightening the closure. "Italy is ready to say goodbye to coal, the fossil source that generates the most greenhouse gases," the Mase owner had explained. "We have assessed the timing: we could get there in the next few months, although with the current geopolitical scenario it is more likely to talk about a year for mainland Italy and 2027 for Sardinia."