G7 Energy Ministers' Joint Statement, March 10, 2022

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G7 Energy Ministers' Joint Statement

March 10, 2022
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We, the Energy Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and the European Union Commissioner for Energy, condemn in the strongest possible terms the unprovoked and unjustified large-scale military aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which grossly violates international law and the UN Charter, and undermines international security and stability. We demand that Russia immediately ceases its military actions, withdraws all its troops from the entire territory of Ukraine and fully respects Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence within its internationally recognised borders and territorial waters.
We express our solidarity with Ukraine, the Ukrainian people and its freely elected government. We express our deepest sympathy for the innocent victims of this senseless war and their families. We condemn in the strongest possible terms the Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals and civilian energy infrastructure. We are grateful to our colleague Minister of Energy of Ukraine German Galuschenko for his participation in today's meeting providing information on the current situation in Ukraine. We welcome action taken by G7 members and others to assist Ukraine in addressing the challenges to its energy supply security resulting from Russia's aggression and commit to increase our support.
It is with gravest concern that we have witnessed Russian attacks at and in the direct vicinity of nuclear facilities in Ukraine, threating their safety and security and creating severe and long-term dangers reaching far beyond Ukraine's borders. We condemn any acts compromising the safety of nuclear installations devoted to peaceful purposes. We call upon Russia to cease all use of force against or in the vicinity of Ukrainian nuclear facilities and to ensure that all nuclear facilities in Ukraine remain under the full control of the Ukrainian Government, in line with the internationally recognised safety standards and security guidance, at all times.

We share the grave concern expressed by the Director General of the IAEA over the takeover by Russian forces of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant, in contravention of one of the seven pillars of nuclear safety and security. We are also deeply concerned by the loss of external power at the Chornobyl facility and we urge all necessary actions to restore all safety margins and to assure the safety of the facility. We welcome the initiative by the Director General of IAEA to ensure the safety and security of all nuclear facilities, while respecting full Ukrainian sovereignty over its territory and infrastructure.
The Russian aggression against Ukraine is also causing strong reverberations in international energy markets and has led to further significant price increases on oil, gas, coal and, indirectly, electricity across the G7 and beyond. We note with grave concern the burden this creates for households, in particular for households with low income, as well as businesses and industry, notably in European countries. We also acknowledge that elevated prices will be felt most acutely in developing countries that are net energy importers with already drained financial resources. We agree to monitor developments closely in order to take further concerted measures if required, including working with Indonesia as Presidency of the G20. It is necessary to consider effective measures in order to stop the increase in the gas price.
Recent events have also given rise to significant risks to the energy supply security of G7 countries and beyond. We will act in solidarity and close coordination in the case of possible supply disruptions and will do what is needed to mitigate the impact on our countries, economies and citizens, especially in order to protect vulnerable groups. We commit to continue working together to ensure diversification of energy sources, supplies, routes, and means of transport to build system resilience and promote competitive, reliable energy markets based on transparent rules.
We call on oil and gas producing countries to act in a responsible manner and to examine their ability to increase deliveries to international markets particularly where production is not meeting full capacity noting that OPEC has a key role to play. This will help to ease tensions and note with appreciation announcements already made to this end. We welcome that International Energy Agency members have already released 61.7mb of oil to the market and stand ready to take additional action as the situation requires. We stress the important role increased deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG) can play in order to mitigate potential supply disruptions of pipeline gas, especially to European markets. We recognize the role that liquefied natural gas (LNG) is playing and acknowledge that investment in this sector is necessary due to the current crisis. We call on all jurisdictions to take action consistent with our common climate objectives.
A number of G7 members are taking urgent measures to quickly reduce dependency on Russian energy supplies. Some nations have made announcements to ban oil and gas from Russia. Some G7 members step up their efforts to enhance energy self- sufficiency.
Decreasing dependence on natural gas from Russia in the European Union is of special urgency. We welcome the timely 10-Point Plan put forward by the International Energy Agency. We acknowledge that the European Commission has published its REPowerEU plan to phase out dependency from Russian fossil fuels at the latest by 2030. The current crisis highlights the real need and the opportunity for Europe to reduce its dependency on Russia by diversifying supply, accelerating the role out of clean energy technologies and enhancing energy efficiency, with significant progress possible by the end of the year. We look forward to reconvening with our IEA colleagues at the end of March to implement further actions that can simultaneously advance our energy security and climate objectives.
We remain steadfastly committed and convinced that the most important contribution towards energy security is an accelerated clean energy transition based on energy efficiency and a shift to the use of clean, safe and sustainable energies as well as electrification and the use of hydrogen from low carbon and renewable sources, including its derivatives. Those countries that opt to use it reaffirm the role of nuclear energy in their energy mix. Those countries recognize its potential to provide affordable low carbon energy and contribute to the security of energy supply as a baseload energy source. The current crisis has demonstrated the urgent need to step up our efforts and take immediate action to accelerate the energy transition in our countries and beyond. We resolve to accelerate the clean energy transition as a lasting solution to prevent energy price spikes and to ensure sufficient affordable energy supply, including through enabling large scale investment in energy and the technologies needed, ensuring universal energy access, uninterrupted flow of energy resources, and consumer protection, especially for the most vulnerable populations.
We resolve to implement our climate commitments made in Paris and Glasgow across mitigation, adaptation and finance. We will press forward with our joint G7 climate and energy agenda in order to make the 2020s a 'decade of action' for a 1.5° pathway, demonstrating steady and effective progress to our target of reaching Net Zero by 2050, at the latest. To this end we continue to urge all countries, especially major emitters, whose 2030 targets are not yet aligned with these goals, to revisit and strengthen them by COP27 in line with their commitments. Complementing our internal policy approaches, we are exploring the establishment of an open, cooperative international Climate Club, consistent with international rules, and with participation beyond the G7. Key priorities of our agenda include steps towards deep decarbonization in the energy and industry sectors in the G7 and beyond, and joint steps to establish international value chains and a global market for hydrogen from renewable and low carbon sources, its derivatives and other near-zero emission commodities.
We will take stock of progress achieved at our joint Climate, Energy and Environment Ministerial meeting on 25-27 May 2022 in Berlin. If the situation so requires, we stand ready to meet again earlier in order to jointly address energy security challenges.

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Source: German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Protection

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