The Group of Seven (G7) Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States met in Lübeck on 14-15 April to address major international issues that impact global peace and security. Their statement on climate change follows.
They also endorsed the findings of a report they had commissioned that identified five specific action areas for a new, multi-dimensional national and international cooperative approach to build resilience against climate risks. The executive summary of the report is available in Pdf format at the bottom of this statement.
G7 Foreign Ministers Statement on Climate Change
Climate change is among the most serious challenges facing our world. It poses a threat to the environment, to global security and economic prosperity. It has the potential to reverse the progress that has been made in the past decades in tackling global poverty. Without adequate mitigation and adaptation efforts, the impacts of rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns heighten the risk of instability and conflict. We must effectively address this challenge.
Reducing global emissions of greenhouse gases is essential to successfully mitigating the risks of climate change. We therefore reaffirm the G7 commitment to fully support efforts to reach, in Paris in December 2015, a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention that promotes ambition, applies to all parties and reflects evolving national circumstances. We look forward to the submission of the INDCs (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) as soon as possible. This should enable all countries to follow a low-carbon and resilient sustainable development pathway, in light of the goal to hold the increase in global average temperature below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. We therefore reaffirm that deep cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions are required according to science, as documented in the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and that all countries should take urgent action to meet the 2°C goal.
We recognise that relevant international processes and other work occurring this year, including the Financing for Development Conference, the Post 2015 Agenda, the work of the Conference of the Parties under the UNFCCC, the Sendai Framework for Action and the World Humanitarian Summit, offer a unique opportunity to enhance and bring greater coherence and complementarity to international efforts to reduce the risks posed by climate change, to support preparedness and resilience to disasters and to promote sustainable growth.
We therefore welcome the external study, commissioned by the G7 Foreign Ministries in 2014 and now submitted to us under the title “An New Climate for Peace: Taking Action on Climate and Fragility Risks” by an international consortium of think tanks, which analyses the compound risks of climate change on fragile states and regions, identifies critical pathways through which climate change is likely to have significant interactions with the stability and fragility of states and societies, and recommends that G7 governments should align their efforts toward the common goal of increasing resilience and reducing fragility in the face of global climate change.
We agree on the need to better understand, identify, monitor and address the compound risks associated with climate change and fragility. Integrating climate-fragility considerations across foreign policy portfolios will allow G7 countries to better assess climate-related security challenges and to assist other countries in preparing for and responding to these risks.
We have decided to set up and task a working group with evaluating the study’s recommendations up to the end of 2015 in order for it to report back to us regarding possible implementation in time for our meeting in 2016. For this purpose, the group will consider the need to, inter alia, facilitate the exchange of information and views, including with interested partners affected by situations of fragility, to better work in cooperation with interested partners affected by situations of fragility, to better understand and respond to climate-fragility risks, to work with existing institutions to make better use of and conduct integrated climate and fragility risk assessments, and to develop operational guidance materials.