The world needs oil, gas and coal and the G7 countries are pledging to divest from coal by 2035. But the same rich countries are still failing to recycle their waste, which is expected to reach critical levels within a few decades.
The war in Ukraine is putting pressure on commitments to energy diversification and the gradual cessation of the exploitation of fossil fuels. However, this is the promise of the G7, which recently committed to decarbonizing the majority of its electricity sector “by 2035” and to ending international funding for projects related to these energies as of this year. To achieve this goal, the countries pledge “to support the acceleration of the global phase-out of coal” and to “rapidly develop the technologies and policies necessary for the transition to clean energy”, in a declaration published at the from a meeting of climate and energy ministers in Berlin. This commitment finally benefited from the support of Japan, which refused to commit in the face of requests from the United States, Canada, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany.
The thorny issue of banks and sovereign wealth funds, which fuel fossil fuel projects, was raised. “Rewarding climate-damaging behavior with subsidies […], it is absurd, and this absurdity must be eliminated”, added Robert Habeck, the German Minister for the Economy and the Climate. According to the NGO Oil Change International, between 2018 and 2020, the G20 countries alone financed such projects to the tune of 188 billion dollars (175.36 billion euros), mainly via multilateral development banks.
Pious wishes?
An example of this double talk can be found at TotalEnergies, whose general assembly (GA) took place on May 25, and which was disrupted by environmental activists. Because TotalEnergies is committed to its strategy of expansion in fossil fuels.
Another good example of an OECD study on global perspectives, especially on the progression of plastics and the proliferation of waste. If nothing is done, in a little less than 40 years, more than 1000 million tons of waste will be stored at the bottom of rivers, lakes and oceans. The production of plastics and the proliferation of waste it entails are taking on disproportionate proportions. After having doubled over the past decade, it should almost triple by 2060. If the production of plastic should be multiplied by 6.5 in sub-Saharan Africa and by 5.5 in India, it will double in the rich countries, who are the biggest polluters. In developed countries, the production of waste will reach 238kg per person per year, four times more than anywhere else on average (77kg).