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The Heads of State and Government of the G7 decided on Monday to establish an open and cooperative international Climate Club. The G7 invites interested states that pursue an ambitious climate policy to join the Climate Club and participate in the further elaboration of its concept and structure in the coming year. In its joint statement it acknowledged the progress made on giving substance to the idea since the G7 Summit in Elmau and endorsed terms of reference intended to provide a foundation for the further development of the Climate Club in the new year and for its initial implementation phase. The G7 asks the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in tandem with the International Energy Agency (IEA), to host an interim secretariat for the Climate Club.

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz: “At the G7 Summit in Elmau, the Heads of State and Government broadly supported the idea of an open and cooperative international Climate Club. We have worked intensively on the idea since then and today have agreed on initial terms of reference, thus establishing the Climate Club. I am hearing great interest from international partners beyond the G7 with whom we will cooperate closely and further develop the Climate Club. Because the Climate Club is not intended to be a G7 initiative; rather, it is to be a global undertaking. With the Climate Club and the socially just transition of our industries towards climate neutrality, we are making an important contribution to achieving global climate targets.”

Federal Economic Affairs and Climate Action Minister Robert Habeck: “Transitioning industry to climate-friendly processes and technologies is essential if we are to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. This is an issue that affects not only the members of the G7. In the Climate Club, committed states can become the international drivers of emissions reduction in industry. We want to bring climate-friendly commodities, such as green steel, onto the market more quickly and to improve the opportunities for them worldwide. In this context, the Club is intended to advance international partnerships and cooperation agreements with a view to supporting countries in their transformation.”

Federal Chancellor Scholz floated the initiative to establish a Climate Club at the start of the year during Germany’s G7 Presidency. At its Summit in Elmau in June, the G7 adopted a statement on the Climate Club; substantial progress has been made since then. The Climate Club aims to support the rapid and ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement and to limit global warming to 1.5°degrees. As an inclusive forum of states, the Climate Club will help to accelerate the decarbonisation of industries, further develop emissions reduction measures and counter the risk of carbon leakage. Committed developing and emerging countries that join the Club are to receive support to push ahead with the transformation of their industries with a view to attaining climate neutrality.

In this spirit, the Climate Club’s initial focus will be on the decarbonisation of industry. Exchange on international conditions for the decarbonisation of industry is to be intensified in order to accelerate work on joint standards, methodologies and strategies for major industrial sectors. Common framework conditions are intended to ensure investment in sustainable industrial technologies, the expansion of demand for green products and the avoidance of climate-unfriendly lock-in effects in fossil production processes in upcoming investments. Thus the Climate Club takes the approach that industrial companies that are committed to climate change mitigation should not suffer any competitive disadvantages or be pressured into relocating production sites.

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Link to the G7 statement:
https://www.g7germany.de/resource/blob/974430/2062292/9c213e6b4b36ed1bd687e82480040399/2022-07-14-leaders-communique-data.pdf?download=1

Link to the terms of reference:
https://www.g7germany.de/resource/blob/974430/2153140/a04dde2adecf0ddd38cb9829a99c322d/2022-12-12-g7-erklaerung-data.pdf?download=1