Paris (France) (AFP) – France on Thursday defended keeping climate change off the agenda at a meeting of G7 environment ministers in Paris, saying it was necessary to avoid a clash with the United States. Ecology minister Monique Barbut stated that Group of Seven ministers had made progress on environmental issues even though climate change was studiously avoided on the opening day of the talks.
“If I had tackled the issue head-on, there would have been no G7,” Barbut told reporters during a trip to Fontainebleau forest south of the French capital with the visiting ministers. Earlier, Barbut had mentioned that the G7 “must remain a forum for convergence” and that France, as host, was prioritizing unity among the group at a time when environmental protection was slipping down the global agenda. Her ministry indicated that the two-day meeting would focus on “less contentious issues” to appease its largest and most powerful member.
President Donald Trump’s administration has withdrawn the United States from global agreements on climate change and weakened environmental protections since he returned to office in 2025. Other G7 members Italy, Canada, Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom sent their environment ministers to Paris, but Washington dispatched Usha-Maria Turner, an assistant administrator at the US Environmental Protection Agency. When approached by AFP on Thursday, the US representative declined to comment.
Barbut expressed that France wanted “a successful G7 by addressing essential topics — but I didn’t tackle them head-on.” She added, “If you look at all the topics we addressed, they are all linked to climate change. They are all either consequences or causes… No one, including the Americans, disputes that.” She noted that the United States had been “extremely cooperative” and that five texts had already been approved, as she spoke during the Fontainebleau visit where ministers were informed about threats to the forest.
The decision to avoid a direct focus on climate change nonetheless attracted criticism. “A G7 moving at the pace of the United States cannot claim to respond to the crises of the century,” said Gaia Febvre from Climate Action Network, an alliance of activist groups. “By yielding to pressure, it weakens collective action and renounces its potential leading role,” she told AFP.
The G7 talks take place just days before more than 50 countries meet in Colombia for the first-ever global conference dedicated to phasing out fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change. Among other themes, ocean conservation, funding for biodiversity, and the transformation of dry areas into desert were on the G7 agenda.
France is spearheading an initiative to boost public and private finance for biodiversity protection and hopes to win the backing of other G7 nations. On Thursday, Barbut indicated they hoped to raise around 600 million euros ($701 million) for more than 100 national parks in 22 African countries. Of this, around 400 million euros would come from philanthropic sources, she mentioned, most notably from American billionaire and Walmart heir Rob Walton. Before the announcement, Jean Burkard, advocacy director at WWF France, emphasized that any funding “must be additional and not compensate” for cuts elsewhere to state budgets for nature.
© 2024 AFP
