G7 summit opens with climate, energy in focus

SCHLOSS ELMAU, Germany－Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed leaders of the Group of Seven on Sunday to a three-day summit in the Bavarian Alps overshadowed by the conflict in Ukraine and its consequences, from climate to a food crisis.

The summit is taking place against a darker backdrop than was the case last year, when the British, Canadian, French, German, Italian, Japanese and US leaders met for the first time since before the pandemic and vowed to "build back better".

Soaring global energy and food prices are hitting economic growth, and the United Nations warned on Friday of an "unprecedented global hunger crisis".

As the leaders of the G7 nations meet at the Bavarian alpine resort Elmau Castle, they were also confronted with the looming threat of recession as well as pressures over climate change.

Elmau Castle, nestled in the Bavarian Alps, is a five-star resort that has been transformed into a fortress for the three-day meeting of the club of rich nations.

"This club for conversation began as the G6 with six countries (in the 1970s) to discuss how to deal with the oil crisis at that time," Scholz said on Saturday.

"Now it's important that we talk about today's situation and ensure that we stop man-made climate change."

Germany finds itself in an awkward position as G7 summit host, having recently announced that Europe's biggest economy will burn more coal to offset a drop in Russian gas supplies.

Scholz nevertheless insists the G7 remains committed to the Paris agreement of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5 C and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

But there were concerns that Scholz would use the gathering to push G7 partners to water down a previous promise to stop financing gas and oil projects abroad by the end of the year.

"That would be a real setback," Alden Meyer, a senior associate with the climate policy think tank E3G, told Agence France-Presse. "Scholz could go down in history as the climate backtracking chancellor."

On the eve of the gathering, thousands of protesters marched in Munich, about 100 kilometers away, warning leaders against watering down climate commitments amid tensions on the energy market.

At the start of the meeting, four members of the Group of Seven rich nations moved to ban imports of Russian gold, Reuters reported. However, it was not immediately clear whether there was consensus on the move, with European Council President Charles Michel saying the issue would need to be handled carefully or risk backfiring.

Domestic troubles

For many of the G7 leaders, the crises facing the world also provide a distraction from domestic woes.

US President Joe Biden was faced with greater divisions in the US after the Supreme Court struck down the right to abortion, at a time when he was already struggling to deal with galloping inflation sparked by high oil prices.

France's President Emmanuel Macron has been weakened at home after his movement failed to obtain an absolute majority in legislative elections a week ago.

Johnson's Conservatives suffered crushing defeats in two by-elections last week, and a staunch ally stepped down after a slew of scandals.

The G7 leaders are expected to head to Madrid after the summit in Bavaria for a gathering of NATO powers.

Agencies Via Xinhua