But they stopped short of endorsing a 2030 deadline for phasing out of coal that Canada and some other members had pushed for, and left the door open for continued investment in gas, saying that sector could help address potential energy shortfalls.
In their communique, the members pledged to collectively increase offshore wind capacity by 150 gigawatts by 2030 and solar capacity to more than 1 terawatt.They agreed to accelerate “the phase-out of unabated fossil fuels” — the burning of fossil fuels without using technology to capture the resulting C02 emissions — to achieve net zero in energy systems by 2050 at the latest.
“Others are still trying to figure out how they could get there within their relevant time frame — it was a good conversation and everybody is committed to doing and we are trying to find ways to some who are more coal-dependent than others to find technical pathways how to do that,” he said.