This year’s G7 Summit of the U.S., UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, plus the European Union, has agreed in principle that the global economy must be completely fossil fuel-free by the end of this century to curb destructive climate change. To that end, the nations agreed to work toward cutting emissions between 40 and 70 percent by 2050.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also announced that the G7 countries would raise $100 billion from public  and private sources by 2020 to help poorer nations adapt. Environmental groups such as Greenpeace praised the action. In a statement, the Sierra Club called it “the first time that the leaders of the world have made clear with one voice that we must get off fossil fuels completely.”

Two hundred countries are expected to commit in writing to specific plans for greening their economies at the United Nations Climate Change Conference this month in Paris.

Source: TheHill.com