Leaders from the Group of Seven industrial powers pledged to strengthen efforts to phase out fossil fuel emissions this century at their meeting in Bavaria, Germany, Monday. They said that, in line with scientific findings, “deep cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions are required with a decarbonization of the global economy over the course of this century.”
The leaders of the U.S., Germany, France, the U.K., Italy, Canada and Japan called for global emissions cuts at the upper end of the 40-70 percent range by 2050 from 2010 levels. It marked the first time they have supported such a specific long-term target.
The G7 leaders also reaffirmed a pledge to raise $100 billion a year from public and private sources by 2020 to help less-developed countries tackle climate change.
But their moves did little to boost U.N. climate talks underway in Bonn, farther north in Germany, where frustration has mounted over slow progress. Due to end Friday, the 11-day meeting is tasked with shaping a draft text for a climate accord to be adopted by 195 countries at a conference in Paris at the end of this year. After a week of haggling, just 5 percent had been trimmed off the bulky near-90-page draft.
A main dispute revolves around how much wealthy countries should do to slash their emissions compared with poorer nations.
Critics note the G7 leaders failed to specify how they would meet the emissions reduction goals they have set and to offer the detail of their $100 billion-a-year target for climate funding.
Still, their decision can be regarded as a significant step toward ending the age of fossil fuels and laying the ground for a future reliant on renewable energy. In the long-term process of decarbonizing the global economy, opportunities for the most lucrative investments may well be found in green technologies.
As a country hosting a U.N. climate fund established in 2011, Korea is positioned to play a significant role in coordinating and enhancing global efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
President Park Geun-hye pledged to contribute $100 million to the Green Climate Fund when she attended a U.N. climate summit in New York last September. Though it is struggling with growing fiscal constraints, Seoul needs to be more active about raising funds for the GCF aimed at channeling aid from industrialized countries into projects designed to help developing states adapt to climate change and pursue low-carbon growth.
True, Korea is still classified as a developing country under the U.N. convention on climate change, carrying less financial responsibility than other major advanced nations. But it needs to go beyond the conventional framework as it seeks a bridging role between developed and developing states in the battle against global warming.
Government policymakers and corporate executives here should recognize that it will take more positive and persistent efforts to abide by the climate change pledges the country has made to the international community.
