G7 nations fall far short of 2030 emission reduction targets, on track to achieve barely half of what is needed

NEW DELHI: G7 countries may be among the biggest historial polluters contributing to climate change but on the action front none of the group’s seven rich nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US — are on track to meet their emission reduction targets by 2030, reveals an analysis by Climate Analytics, a global climate science and policy institute. These countries are, in fact, jointly on track to achieve barely half the necessary greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction by 2030 to meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 degree Celsius warming limit goal.

G7 countries together account for around 38% of the global economy and are responsible for 21% of total GHG emissions in 2021. Different reports on their historical emissions show that these seven countries accounted for 54% of total emissions since 1900.

Climate Analytics has unveiled its findings just days ahead of the G7 climate, energy, and environment ministers’ meeting in Italy (April 28-30) where these countries are expected to take stock of the progress made by them on their promised climate action targets.


The report shows that the current collective 2030 ambition level of the G7 stands at an insufficient 40-42%, but their existing policies suggest that these developed countries are likely to achieve only 19-33% reduction by the end of this decade compared to 2019 levels.

“This is at best around half of what is needed, and would lead to GHG emissions in 2030 exceeding a 1.5 degree C compatible level by around 4 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e),” it said, noting that “such a shortfall in ambition does not provide the leadership signal needed from the world’s richest countries”.

“These economies, who make up 38% of the world’s GDP, are not pulling their weight: they have both the technology and the finance to up their game. Against the backdrop of unprecedented climate extremes exacerbated by the use of fossil fuels, taking ambitious action to decarbonise and setting a deadline to move away from fossil fuels should be the bare minimum,” said Neil Grant, lead author of the analysis.

The findings assume significance as new 2035 targets are due next year when all the countries from across the globe are expected to submit their fresh climate action goals — called nationally determined contributions (NDCs) — for the next 10 years to the UN climate change body.