G7 countries have expressed support for “temporary” gas investments as they wean off Russian energy, according to the final communiqué of the three-day G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan released on Saturday. G7 countries agreed that “investment in the gas sector can be appropriate as a temporary response to address potential gas market shortfalls,” referring to the energy crisis brought about by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The communique did not mention a timeline for phasing out gas. This comes as Germany, Japan, and the United States are pushing to protect their “long standing investments in the fossil fuel industry,” the New York Times reported.

Japan and Germany keep gas and coal phase out deadlines out: The G7 ministers opted to reaffirm the commitment made in last year’s G7 statement to achieve a “fully” or “predominantly” decarbonized power sector by 2035 — leaving the door open for new gas and coal investments, the Financial Times reported. This comes following a long tussle between the G7 countries during a summit in Sapporo, Japan last month where Germany was initially pushing against Japan to restrict gas investments but ended up joining them instead.

“Unwavering commitment to the Paris Agreement”: The G7 Clean Energy Economy ActionPlan (pdf) summarized the position of the seven economies and their role in heading the climate movement, including setting new industrial and trade policies to incentivize public and private investments that drive decarbonization, increasing total investment in the clean energy manufacturing supply chain, and working to make renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency measures an affordable and accessible option globally.

US and Australia to join forces in renewables and battery expansion: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a letter of intent with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G7 summit to establish climate and clean energy as the third pillar of the Australia-US Alliance, according to a statement. An action plan will be developed by the end of the year to lay out the steps the two countries will take to tie their clean energy supply chains together, especially in critical materials.

G7 says it will “de-risk, not decouple” economic engagement with China in a bid to appease the manufacturing powerhouse for renewables infrastructure, Reuters reported. G7 countries said they are prepared to build “constructive and stable” relations with Beijing, while also reducing dependence on trade and diversifying to achieve economic resilience. China holds more than an 80% share in all the manufacturing stages of solar panels — such as polysilicon, ingots, wafers, cells and modules — and a 70% share of global manufacturing capacity for electric vehicle batteries.

Environmentalists alarmed: “G7 had maintained a loophole for new fossil gas investments using the Russian military conflict with Ukraine as an excuse,” said Max Lawson, head of inequality policy at activist group Oxfam, adding that the group is “far off track” from the contributions needed to meeting net-zero targets, according to Reuters. Some environmental activists have said that endorsing investment in gas is “incompatible with the pledge nations made to keep global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre industrial levels,” the New York Times reported. One expert from Greenpeace called the G7’s endorsement of new fossil fuel investments “a blunt denial of the climate emergency,” according to Climate Action Network International.

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