Beyond the measures announced to help fight fires in the Amazon (see other news), there was no progress on the climate front at the G7 summit in Biarritz, nor any hope of convincing US President Donald Trump to return to the Paris Agreement. The latter did not participate in the discussions on climate change and biodiversity on the morning of Monday 26 August.
The goal was to prepare for the UN ‘Climate Action Summit’ to be held on 23 September in New York, which will aim to raise the level of commitments on the table. The G6 leaders reiterated their “willingness” to increase their climate goals, but did not specify how they will act to respond to the emergency.
The climate is not mentioned in the final declaration from the Summit.
To the press, French President Emmanuel Macron nevertheless stated that progress had been made, citing financial commitments for the Green Climate Fund: 5 billion dollars (4.8 billion euros) for its reconstitution. “France, Germany and the United Kingdom have doubled their contributions”, he said.
With regard to the Biodiversity Charter, Mr Macron welcomed its “adoption at the level of Heads of State” and the expanded roster of signatories including South Africa, Rwanda and India. He also reported progress on “coalitions of actors” in the textile and maritime transport sectors. He welcomed Russia's launch of the ratification process for the Paris Agreement, India's joining the coalition of countries ready to move towards carbon neutrality in 2050 and the coalition of countries ready to reduce HFC gases.
Responding to the press, Donald Trump said the United States enjoys “tremendous wealth under its feet” and is “the No. 1 energy producer in the world” thanks to oil and gas development. "We have liquefied natural gas. I'm not going to lose that wealth on dreams on windmills, which frankly aren’t working too well”, he said, while calling himself an “environmentalist”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)