The fossil fuel era is coming to an end. The leaders of the world’s top economies (G7) – have agreed to phase out fossil fuel usages by the end of this century. This is a step towards a de-carbonized economy.
The G7 countries Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US have jointly agreed to cut greenhouse gases by phasing out the use of fossil fuels by the end of the century. Many environment campaigners see this as a historic approach to end the fossil fuel age.
On the final day of talks in Bavarian, southern Germany, Angela Merkel; the German Chancellor; announced that the leaders have committed themselves to the need to ‘de-carbonise the global economy in the course of this century’.
The G7 nations have agreed on a worldwide target to limit the rise in average global temperature to a maximum of 2C compared with pre-industrial levels. They said that targets for greenhouse gas emission cuts by 2050 should be at the upper end of the 40 to 70 per cent range recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
This agreement or deal also calls for a legal binding or an agreed outcome with legal force” that would apply to all countries. The German Chancellor stressed on legal bindings and said that it would hasten the process of eliminating fossil fuels.
Though environment campaigners have appreciated such a decision, yet they have also criticized the fact that the leaders had stopped short of signing Mrs. Merkel’s proposal that they should agree their own immediate binding emission targets.
This is seen as a step to revolutionize the global economy by the middle of this century. John Kalinski, Oxfam’s G7 spokesman said, ‘G7 leaders are starting to talk the right language but they must now live up to their own rhetoric and kick their dirty coal habit.’ Michael Jacobs, advisor to the Global Commission on Climate and Energy said that it is indeed a remarkable achievement by Mrs. Merkel in bringing Japan, UK and USA to agree to this agreement.
It is the first time that G7 leaders speak of de-carbonisation – an aim to have zero carbon emission by the end of this century. Though this agreement has not been strictly laid down on legal terms, yet this can mark the beginning of a better environment, global harmony and blossoming de-carbonized global economy.