The G7 states will meet in Turin, Italy on Monday, for the first key climate talks since COP28 as a new report shows all G7 members are missing their climate targets.

G7 ministers meet for environment and climate change talks in Turin on Monday, with experts urging the highly industrialized countries to use their political clout, wealth and technologies to end fossil fuel use.

The Group of Seven meeting in the northern Italian city is the first big political session since the world pledged at the UN’s COP28 climate summit in December to transition away from coal, oil and gas.

It comes as a new report by a global climate institute shows the G7 is falling far short of its targets.

Hundreds of protesters demonstrated in Turin on Sunday, some burning photos of the G7 leaders as they accused them of failing future generations over the climate crisis.

Rome, which holds the G7 rotating presidency, says it wants Turin to be “a strategic link” between last year’s Conference of Parties in Dubai and COP29, which will take place in November in Azerbaijan.

‘Innovative’

Environment ministers from the G7, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US, will meet for four working sessions over two days at the 17th century Palace of Venaria.

Environmentalists want to know how they intend to follow through on pledges such as the agreement in Dubai to double energy efficiency rates and triple renewable capacity by 2030.

The talks will stress the need to diversify sources of critical materials key to renewable energy systems, in a bid to stop overreliance on China, which dominates in green technologies.

Italy says rare earths and renewables will be part of discussions with African delegations invited to Turin.

Canada, France, Germany and the UK are pushing for a global treaty to reduce plastics pollution and are expected to use the G7 to rally a reluctant US and Japan.

There may be commitments on more funds for adaptation to climate change, and Italy said the G7 would discuss “innovative” financing models amid calls for more accessible finance for vulnerable countries.

‘Watched Closely’

Together the G7 makes up around 38% of the global economy and was responsible for 21% of total greenhouse gas emissions in 2021, according to the Climate Analytics policy institute.

Not one member of the group is on track to meet existing emission reduction targets for 2030, managing instead to cut them by “at best around half of what is needed,” a report by the institute said last week.

The US finalized sweeping plans Thursday to curb emissions from fossil fuel plants, giving existing coal plants until 2032 to reduce their carbon dioxide output by 90%.

France is expected to push for the G7 to phase out coal by 2030, but Japan is reluctant to set a date.

Germany—Europe’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases—is unwilling to wean off gas, as is Italy.

Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has vowed repeatedly to transform Italy into a gas hub for Europe, seeking new suppliers in the Mediterranean and Africa and expanding gas infrastructure.

Ella Ide, with AFP