G7 nations spend more on fossil fuels than clean energy despite pledges, report finds

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G7 nations have spent billions of dollars more on fossil fuels than they have on clean energy since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, despite promises of a green recovery.

As the UK makes preparations to host the summit - which begins next week - new research has revealed that the seven nations attending have collectively committed $189 billion (€155 billion) supporting coal, oil and gas between January 2020 and March 2021. By comparison, the same countries spent a total of $147 billion (€120.6 billion) of clean energy.

The Group of Seven, or G7, comprises of seven of the world's richest nations - the US, Japan, Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Canada - and represents over 46% of global GDP.

The group's support for fossil fuels included direct funding of coal, oil and gas, as well as measures which downgraded or removed environmental regulations.

Also read: Net-zero transition at top of the agenda in G7 talks, says UK

The research, which was conducted by Christian development charity Tearfund, the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the Overseas Development Institute, found that the G7 nations missed several opportunities to make their pandemic responses greener. The analysis showed that in most cases, fossil fuel industries were given money with no strings attached, instead of it being conditional on emissions reductions, with eight in every ten dollars spent on non-renewable energy coming without conditions.

Included in research were financial lifelines offered to the aviation and automotive sectors, which received $115 billion from G7 nations, 80% of which was given without any attempt to force cuts in emissions.

Only one in ten dollars that were committed to the pandemic recovery benefited "greener" energies such as renewables and efficiency measures.

The G7 summit will take place next week in Cornwall, England and is set to be opened by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson who has previously stated his intention to unite the Group nations to "build back better" from the pandemic to create a cleaner, greener future.

As well as the Group's seven nations, the UK has invited South Africa to take part, as well as Australia, India and South Korea, echoing calls by former US President Donald Trump for the latter three nations to join permanently. The former president also advocated for Russia to rejoin after the nation was ejected following its annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Also read: UN says global climate action not enough to reach Paris Agreement goals

The analysis of the actions of the seven G7 economies in the last 15 months has shown that they are not yet investing at sufficient scale in technologies that support the rapid decarbonisation of their economies, and also they have not created green jobs at scale in response to the pandemic.

Paul Cook, Head of Advocacy at Tearfund, which operates in some of the world's poorest countries most affected by global warming, said: "Every day, we witness the worsening consequences of the climate crisis for communities around the world – farmers’ crops failing; floods and fires engulfing towns and villages; families facing an uncertain future.

"Choices made now by the G7 countries will either accelerate the transition towards a climate-safe future for all or jeopardise efforts to date to tackle the climate crisis."

The G7 nations are amongst the biggest polluters in the world. Together they account for 10% of the world's population but produce nearly 25% of global CO2 emissions.

Also read: Germany revises emissions targets after constitutional court ruling

Cook added: "Their actions can set the scene for success or failure at the UN climate talks being hosted by the UK in November."

Governments spent unprecedented amounts of public money during the Covid-19 pandemic, with an estimated $14.6 trillion (€12 trillion) spent in 2020 on fiscal stimuli by the 50 largest economies. The report's authors said that well-targeted stimulus measures could be used to help launch low-carbon societies.

The report looked into the support given by G7 nations as well as the four guest countries to five key energy areas: the cleanest energy, such as wind and solar; clean energy that may still rely to some extent on fossil fuel power, such as electric vehicles; fossil fuel energy with conditions; fossil fuel energy without any conditions; and other energy sectors such as biofuels and nuclear.

it was found that the nations offered the greatest amount of support to transport. Subsidies and bailouts were given to a number of airlines including Ryanair, Lufthansa, Air France and British Airways, as well as automotive firms like Honda and Renault. The authors said that highly polluting industries would be sustained for decades to come as a consequence, and would ultimately face little real pressure to "go green".

While some nations had increased commitments to rail, electric vehicles another cleaner technologies, the report said that: "Investments in the transport sector remain significantly skewed towards fossil fuels and are at odds with G7 commitments to build back better."

The propping up of the oil and gas sectors was especially evident in the US and Canada, both countries being major exporters, offering direct financial support as well as rolling back environmental regulations.

Some G7 nations had some success in ending support for polluting industries. In February, Italy extended its ban on fossil fuel drilling until September. France and the UK have introduced policies that were designed to end support for fossil fuels. The UK is also set to bring in a ban on new combustion engine cars by 2030.

"These actions should serve as a precedent for other G7 countries," the report said.

Also read: Radical change needed en route to net-zero, IEA warns

In May, in the first comprehensive study of the global journey to net-zero, the International Energy Agency said that government pledges by, even if fully achieved, still fell short of what was needed to bring global energy emissions down to net-zero by 2050, which the Paris agreement states would allow for an even chance of limiting the global temperature rise to 2°C, or prefereably 1.5°C, above pre-industrial levels..

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