“There is a clear opportunity to reduce dependence on volatile fossil fuel markets through the rapid deployment of renewables, grid modernisation and the scaling up of energy storage”
celled flights and rising inflation to growing risks of recession. In the short term, countries are scrambling to secure oil and gas sup- plies. But in the longer term, there is a clear opportunity to reduce dependence on volatile fossil fuel markets through the rapid deployment of renewables, grid modernisation and the scaling up of energy storage. Increasingly, energy security concerns themselves are help- ing drive the transition to clean energy. That transition can also be funded by doing what the G7 committed to do years ago: phase out fossil fuel subsidies that channel taxpayer dollars towards highly profitable oil and gas companies. Reinvesting that money in clean energy infrastructure, public transit, home ret- rofits and electric vehicles would have a major impact on both national budg- ets and household affordability. It could help people reduce their dependence on oil and gas while lowering energy costs in meaningful and lasting ways. Back in 1975, when the G7 began, leaders talked about affordability and energy efficiency. G7 leaders should be doing so too at the Évian Summit. How has the United Nations Sec- retary General’s high-level expert panel on net-zero commitments that you chair provided guidance on the path forward? I issued my final report to Secre- tary General António Guterres at the UN Climate Conference in Brazil last year, ten years after the Paris Agree- ment. I emphasised that physical risks described a decade ago as ‘over the horizon’ have now arrived. Wildfires, floods, storms and extreme heat are causing hundreds of billions of dollars in annual damages and millions of pre- ventable deaths. At the same time, the pace of the clean energy transition is exceeding expectations, with solutions now avail- able at scale and at competitive cost. As a result, the rational path forward is increasingly clear: reduce emissions, scale clean solutions and shift invest- ment from fossil fuels to clean energy. How have G7 environment ministers’ meetings helped since you were chair in 2018? In 2018, we believed that if we focused on oceans and plastic pollution, most
countries – including the United States under Donald Trump – could find common ground. I chose to use a chair’s summary to allow for greater flexibility and ensure we could achieve real out- comes. We launched an oceans charter and also included climate change in the final summary. Today, however, countries often feel targeted and are therefore much more cautious, which means little of sub- stance is advanced or agreed upon. At the G7 environment ministers meeting in April, climate change was not even on the agenda. As Canadian prime minister Mark
Carney has said, “middle powers must work together in a world of increas- ing fragmentation”. The G7 includes both middle and major powers, creat- ing an opportunity to use it as a vehicle for progress, even without the United States on many issues. G7 leaders should come together for genuine conversations on press- ing global challenges. Climate change has long been on the G7 agenda, and it would be absurd to shy away from addressing it now. France has played a leading role on climate and is investing in helping people lower costs through energy efficiency. I hope there is an opportunity at Évian to have a serious discussion. The climate crisis is worsening, but we now have cleaner, more afforda- ble and more effective solutions. The agenda should include finally phas- ing out fossil fuel subsidies, advancing energy efficiency, and financing and scaling clean energy deployment in ways that strengthen energy security, grow economies and create good jobs. How can G7 leaders at Évian help? The climate solutions are better than ever. The task now is to match the scale of the response to the scale of the chal- lenge – and to do it together. Leaders would be failing their cit- izens if they did not use this rare opportunity of being together in a room for two days to make real progress. These are difficult times for the G7. It is time for leaders to show courage and lead.
// CATHERINE MCKENNA Catherine McKenna is the founder and CEO of Climate and Nature Solutions. She is Canada’s former environment minister and infra- structure minister. She chairs the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero Com- mitments for companies, financial institutions, cities and regions. She is a visiting professor in practice at the Grantham Institute at the London School of Economics, a distinguished fellow at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, and an adviser to the Lawson Climate Institute. She is the author of Run Like a Girl, a memoir.
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