On April 15th and 16th, 2023, world leaders met in Sapporo, Japan to collaborate and discuss goals to address critical concerns centered around global environmental health. G7, composed of foreign ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union, are working to navigate threats to the international system, especially due the continued war between Russia and Ukraine. In this meeting, they reaffirmed their commitments to address global challenges of climate change, pollution, loss of biodiversity, energy security, and more. After the discussion and writing of the communique, Akihiro Nishimura, Japan’s environment minister, asserted, “I believe that we were able to demonstrate to the international community that our commitment to climate change and environmental issues is unwavering, even in the context of the situation in Ukraine.”

Due to the urgency following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, G7 foreign ministers have placed more focus on accelerating renewable energy development and working to phase out fossil fuels. By 2050, the ministers hope that the world, or at most, the major power countries will be completely reliant on decarbonized power. Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japanese industry minister, explained, “While acknowledging that there are diverse pathways to achieve carbon neutrality, we agreed on the importance of aiming for a common goal toward 2050.” In order to achieve this goal, members pledged to collectively increase offshore wind turbines and increase solar capacity. The ministers agreed that they would like to refrain from the use of nuclear energy, in order to ensure the safety of their citizens.

G7 ministers enlisted the help of the International Energy Agency (IEA) to strengthen energy security and accelerate the progress on clean energy transitions. Before writing the communique, the ministers heavily discussed the critical minerals issue raised by the IEA. Critical minerals are a major area where international cooperation is needed to ensure clean energy transitions. The ministers committed to a Five-Point Plan with the IEA, focusing on medium and long-term supply and demand of these critical minerals. In the “Five Point Plan for Critical Minerals Security,” the points include, “Forecast Long-term Supply and Demand,” “Develop Resources and Supply Chains Responsibly,” “Recycle More and Share Capabilities,” “Save with Innovations,” and “Prepare for Supply Disruptions.” The supply and demand economy is one of the greatest factors of increased pollution, including atmospheric, plastic, land, and water. Through creating a concise plan with the help of the IEA, the G7 ministers are able to gain better accountability with the international community in taking action with growing concerns of global environmental health.

The IEA, as mentioned before, provides data, policy recommendations, authoritative analysis, and solutions for secure and sustainable energy options. The IEA examines issues regarding oil, gas, coal, supply and demand of consumer products and new innovations for clean energy sources and technologies. The agency works hard to ensure that global ministers are equipped with proper information and reasonable policy recommendations on everything in relation to energy.

During the conference, G7 ministers also discussed the pollution coal companies are causing, harming environmental health. The leading countries, and also third world countries, do not want to cause drastic harm to their economies by completely eliminating the coal industry. However, according to journalists Katya Golubkova and Yuka Obayashi of Reuters, “On coal, countries agreed to prioritize ‘concrete and timely steps’ towards accelerating the phase-out of ‘domestic, unabated coal power generation,’ part of the commitment for decarbonised power sector by 2050.”

Canada and European countries are already ahead of the game plan to reduce the usage of carbon energy sources. They obtain their electricity from renewable sources greater than the target goals of Japan and the United States. The G7 countries established the “GX transformation” plan, which was designed to legislate objectives in the fields of energy sufficiency and reduction of carbon emissions. The plan issues 20 trillion yen, or 150 billion dollars to help public and private investments in decarbonization. In addition, the legislation calls for a carbon-pricing system to entice companies and businesses to transition their energy sources by causing increased pay for their carbon emissions.

Alongside the reduction of carbon emissions, the United Nations wishes for an end to new fossil fuel explorations and for countries to not be sustained on coal, oil, and gas by 2040.  Misters are concerned that this is a slightly unreasonable global goal, as fossil fuel explorations and these energy sources are actually rising globally, especially in affluent economies. Journalists Elain Kurtenback and Mari Yamaguchi of AP News pointed out that, “the U.S. government’s approval of fossil fuel initiatives such as the Willow project on Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope have drawn criticism for their environmental impact and for running counter to President Joe Biden’s pledges to cut emissions and move to clean energy.” Although the Willow Project was not a positive step for global environmental health by the United States, the 36-page detailed communique outlines the plans and goals established by the G7 countries to continue to make a positive, meaningful impact. 

G7 ministers agree that a fast timeline is needed to address these environmental issues, and the set goals can be accomplished within the next couple of decades. With close collaboration with the IEA and other specialized environmentalists, the ministers are confident that together they will be able to reduce the usage of carbon emissions and reliance on gas, coal, and oil by 2050. G7 is in a powerful position to lead and execute these plans effectively. Takejiro Sueyoshi, co-representative of the Japan Climate Initiative, exclaimed, “There’s no time left. The window for change is closing, but there is still hope. We need to use the sense of crisis as a turning point.”