G7 Summit: Global Leaders Called Out for Climate Hypocrisy
From June 11th through the 13th, the 47th G7 Summit was held in Cornwall, England. Standing for the Group of Seven, the G7 is an inter-governmental political forum composed of the wealthiest democracies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Meeting each year to discuss the world’s most pressing issues, the emphasis on COVID-19 response and climate change this past week came as no surprise. Yet in spite of a strong focus on the latter, including Boris Johnson’s claims that the event would be the Group of Seven’s first carbon neutral summit, numerous groups and individuals have called out the global leaders for perceived hypocrisy.
Several issues immediately arose at the surface level: while on the one hand championing the event as carbon neutral, Johnson also flew in on a private jet, as opposed to taking the more eco-friendly alternative, a train ride from London. Further, as the group espoused its support for a carbon neutral future, they were treated to a jet show, emitting many metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, without even the benefit of transportation. Offsetting all emitted carbon from the event is clearly a step in the right direction, but it entirely ignores the rule of thumb when it comes to limiting carbon emissions: reducing first and offsetting second. The hypocrisy of the G7, however, unfortunately runs much deeper. A key outcome of the summit was a seemingly bold new pledge between members to donate a collective $100B each year to less developed regions of the world through to 2025 in order to aid carbon reduction efforts. Yet this very same pledge had been made in 2009 by developed countries at the United Nations for the year 2020, never to be completed. Along with this possibly questionable promise, the leaders further discussed a number of other high level vows, from phasing out coal to fully moving onto electric vehicles, yet with few specifics or details provided. At its very core, in spite of what are very likely good intentions, the promises of the G7 fall flat when they are qualitative and speculative in nature, rather than facts-based and backed with transparent, historically proven action. Perhaps most important of all is the simple fact that the citizens of G7 countries have annual carbon footprints nearly 2x that of the global average -- not only do these countries seemingly fail to deliver on their promises, with delayed results at best; they are a serious part of the issue.
The fact that G7 leaders are focusing their time together on climate change, stating that they will take action, is irrefutably good, but it takes more than words: as Allbirds put it in response to their citizens’ outsized footprints, the G7 must walk the walk too when it comes to climate change. In the long run, it will take global cooperation across governments, companies, and individuals to lower the impacts that our activities have on the environment; from fully shifting to renewable energies to drastically limiting the availability of carbon-intensive activities in the first place. During the interim, however, while governments continue to talk the talk instead of taking real, measurable steps towards solving this crisis in time, businesses large and small have a unique opportunity and responsibility to carry the mantle of fighting for a safer and greener tomorrow. For those looking to make a pledge that counts, our Software & Professional Services Carbon Neutrality Pledge calls for immediate action, in the form of corporate neutrality by the end of 2022. To make an immediate change, our comprehensive carbon neutrality package is affordable, straightforward and highly beneficial -- costing only a few thousand dollars and taking a matter of weeks to complete. Although the actions of global leadership may suggest otherwise, climate change isn’t waiting for tomorrow. Act today.
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