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Orchestrating Outcomes: The G7 and Climate-Related Disaster Responses
Brittaney Warren, G7 Research Group
June 11, 2025
How can the symphony follow a conductor who keeps 4/4 time with their baton and 8/16 time with their hand? The instrumental blocs would be in dissonance, perhaps even creating a discordant cognitive noise in the ears of the spectators. Yet this is not unlike how the G7’s climate governance operates. With one hand the G7 fights fires with water and aid. With the other hand, it lays kindling with pipelines and politics – all while citizens live through unprecedentedly damaging extreme weather events, affecting their health, homes and, even, futures.
Since 1985, the G7 has made 70 politically binding commitments in response to environmental and climate-related disasters (see Appendix A). These commitments reach into many different sectors whose destabilization has direct impacts on social and economic outcomes, including agriculture, ocean ecology, human rights, health and gender – or stated otherwise: food insecurity, pollution, conflict, illness, and women and girl’s inequality.
Environmental and climate-related disasters are important to the G7 members, as none is immune to the impacts, even if they are better shielded and equipped to respond than other countries due to their economic status and overall easier access to resources (such as hospitals). Such features are unavailable or not easily accessible for many people in many non-G7 countries, thereby increasing their vulnerabilities, exposure and ability to recover from extreme weather events.
The unpredictability of climate disasters and their increase are caused directly and indirectly by the burning of fossil fuels, resource extraction and industrial agricultural practices, and the associated demands of industrialized high-consumption lifestyles. The G7 club comprises the industrialized countries that bear the most historical responsibility for the emissions produced from these activities, which trap heat in the atmosphere and disturb the normal functioning of the Earth’s various ecological systems. Although G7 members, with significant variation among them, have made progress in reducing emissions, their energy-related carbon dioxide emissions – one of several primary warming gases – account for approximately 25% of global total emissions.
Yet with the economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine unfolding against the backdrop of democratic backsliding, there has been a renewed resolve to protect against the ensuing energy and economic interruptions in the global supply chain. G7 subsidies for fossil fuels rose significantly since 2016 to 2023, by 15% or $1.36 trillion.
The G7 has committed to phase out and eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, at least those ones that it mysteriously defines as “inefficient” and “wasteful,” since its 2012 Camp David Summit, making eight reiterations. Their most recent one promised to do so by 2025 – this year. The G7 Research Group has tracked the G7’s compliance with two of these commitments in the year after they were made (one made in 2012 and the other in 2022). Together, they averaged compliance of a mere 41%. This shows some effort to remove some subsidies; but against the backdrop of the $1.3 trillion rise in subsidies since 2016, it is difficult to see how the G7’s emissions can continue to decline, especially as the parallel subsidies and investments into low-emissions replacements for fossil fuels drastically pale in comparison, with a comparatively meagre ~$500 billion commitment to clean energy made after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The toll of this inaction is significant, not only in capital and infrastructure, but also in health and lives each year. Economically, it is estimated that climate-related extreme weather events total $2 trillion, a figure that likely highly underestimates the true scale. Thus the investments the G7 is subtracting from high emissions sectors to add to low-emissions sectors do not equal what is needed to address the damages caused by existing emissions. As the leaders prepare to arrive in Kananaskis on June 15, the consequences of such bad math is being felt in Canada’s western provinces and spreading east, with a ferocious wildfire burning the Boreal forest – the Amazon of the North – and threatening to rival the 2016 wildfire in the same region that burned entire neighbourhoods to the ground and “obliterated” homes to piles of nails (see John Valiant's Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast, published in 2023).
When Canada last hosted the G7 summit at Charlevoix in 2018, the leaders signalled that disaster response was a priority. They made 19 relevant commitments – at least double the number made at any other summit where disaster commitments were made. Many of the Charlevoix commitments were on building coastal resilience at home and in small island developing states, through early warning systems, insurance schemes, and women’s equal participation in decision making for disaster risk reduction and recovery. The G7 Research Group monitored five of those commitments for their implementation in the year after they were made, and found compliance of 69%. Canada previously hosted the 2010 Muskoka Summit where it made just one disaster-related commitment, which G7 members’ 95% compliance with their promise to support international coordination for disaster risk reduction.
Although the available data are somewhat sparse, they also show inconsistent compliance on three disaster-related commitments made at other summits: the 2005 Gleneagles Summit had 100%, 2006 St. Petersburg Summit had 56% and the 2015 Elmau Summit had 76%. More research is required in this area.
The priorities that Canadian prime minister Mark Carney has laid out for the G7 Kananaskis Summit do not explicitly include disasters, although they include “protecting our communities.” But the convergence of the raging wildfires in the host province – including a potential threat that the leaders, guests and observers may need to evacuate the summit area – with Canada’s hosting historically leading on the volume of commitments produced on disasters will likely elevate disaster preparedness and response in the leaders’ discussions. Yet what will determine the quality and effectiveness of such commitments is whether the G7 members can orchestrate their implementation with opposing priorities to produce harmony.
Subject |
Number of Commitments |
Percentage of Commitments |
Environment |
21 |
30% |
Climate change |
19 |
27% |
Agriculture |
10 |
14% |
Development |
6 |
9% |
Health |
5 |
7% |
Gender |
4 |
6% |
Human rights |
3 |
4% |
International cooperation |
2 |
3% |
Total |
70 |
100% |
Note: All commitments are environmental or climate-related disasters but some have been categorized as core commitments under other core subjects.
Inclusions: disaster, (geo)hazards, early warning systems, risk insurance, Global Shield Against Climate Risks, emergency response, first responders, extreme weather events, wildfires, heatwaves, floods, oil spills, crisis response and preparedness,
Exclusions: hazardous waste/substances, famine/war/conflict/health related disasters
1985-19: We agree upon the need to improve the existing early warning systems and improve transportation arrangements. (food and agriculture)
None
1997-18: We must strengthen our efforts to protect the world's oceans. We will work to ensure an effective and integrated effort to deal with key issues, including sustainable fishing, shipping, marine pollution from land- based and off-shore activities, and oil spill prevention and emergency response. (environment)
1997-19: In this connection, we will also enhance cooperation in monitoring the ecology in the Northern Pacific, as well as in forecasting earthquakes and tsunamis in this region. (environment)
None
2003-58: We will support the review and improvement of early warning and crop forecast systems as well as contingency planning at the national and regional level, in order to increase emergency preparedness and response. (food and agriculture)
2004-225. We will support the development of regional strategies for disaster prevention and emergency management covering policy instruments, institutional responses and safety mechanisms. (food and agriculture)
2004-229: To improve early warning systems, we will share technologies and data to develop food security maps and improve donor and government capacity to collect geo-spatial data. (food and agriculture)
2005-16. Six months on from the enormous tragedy of the Indian Ocean disaster on 26 December 2004, we have underlined our support for UN work on post-tsunami humanitarian aid and reconstruction, as well as confirming our commitment to reduce the risk from future disasters and to encourage reform of the humanitarian system. (human rights)
2005-141: [We recognise that to be effective, early warning systems for global geophysical events should be:] Based on high quality and appropriate scientific advice that can be translated into effective action by policy makers and those most at risk at a local level. We will support closer co-ordination on natural hazard assessment to enable the scientific community to advise decision-takers on potential natural hazards likely to have high global or regional impact, within the existing UN co-ordinated international disaster reduction framework, including ISDR, in co-operation with GEOSS. (environment)
2005-142: Early warning alone will not eradicate the risk of disaster, nor will it reduce the impact of disasters, which have particularly grave implications for the poor and for hard-won development gains. In order to reduce disaster risk, we will work together with the UN, World Bank, other multi-development banks and developing countries to help them tackle disaster risk reduction more effectively. We will also consider how to improve the profile of disaster risk reduction in our development and other ministries. (environment)
2005-143: We support efforts to improve the co-ordination and the timeliness of humanitarian response. We recognise the strong leadership of the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in providing effective disaster assistance in the wake of the Tsunami disaster. The G8 will seek to strengthen OCHA and UN Humanitarian and Resident Co-ordinators, and will support the co-ordination and prioritisation of the allocation of funding to where it is most needed. (human rights)
2005-144: We are willing to explore initiatives to strengthen the UN coordination role and its ability to react more rapidly and efficiently in the face of emergencies, including through enhanced access to the necessary resources and capabilities such as personnel, logistics, transportation and means of adequately distributing assistance, provided at the request of the UN by individual UN member states. (human rights)
2006-6: Support for efforts by work with relevant international organizations to mitigate the health consequences of emergencies, including natural and man-made disasters, including through better coordination and capacity building. (Health)
2006-50: We reaffirm the importance of the coordinating role played by the UN in the area of humanitarian emergency response through its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and seek to further enhance the effectiveness of United Nations entities in tracking and coordinating assistance to the affected countries. (international cooperation)
2006-51: Given the potential for the breakdown of public health services as a result of natural and man-made disasters, we support actions aimed at improving the preparedness and capacity of healthcare systems to meet health challenges posed by emergencies, especially in developing countries. (Health)
2006-52: We commit to strengthen existing networks aimed at mitigating health consequences of natural and man-made disasters, including through effective use of rapid response teams, where appropriate, and helping disaster-prone developing countries build their own capacities in this area. (Health)
2006-135: We shall promote international cooperation in the area of forest management, primarily in addressing deforestation and forest degradation, the trade in illegally harvested timber and forest fires. (environment)
None
2008-67: Recognizing that poorer countries are among the most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, we will continue and enhance cooperation with developing countries, in particular least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing states, in their efforts to adapt to climate change including disaster risk reduction. (climate change)
2008-224: [We will] assist in the development of food security early warning systems; (food and agriculture)
2009-72: [To address the increased threats of natural disasters and extreme weather phenomena caused by climate change, such as increased flooding, storm surges, droughts and forest fires, we will act to improve risk preparedness, prevention, monitoring and response times, particularly in developing countries, by:] defining common guidelines for disaster prevention and management to be used in developing national plans, in collaboration with the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), building on the Hyogo Framework for Action and on national experiences, as well as improving management of risks, awareness raising and training of the population and civil protection real-time response, such as logistical support for emergency situations; (climate change)
2009-79: reinforce international cooperation and information sharing for sustainable forest management, including use of forest resources, prevention and management of forest fires and monitoring of pests and diseases. (environment)
2009-140: We will accordingly strengthen our efforts to support improved water management to build resilience and drive adaptation, and against desertification, support disaster risk reduction and enhance science-based information provision, data collection and analysis. (Development)
2009-138: strengthen early warning systems, social protection mechanisms and safety nets for vulnerable population groups. (Food and Agriculture)
2010-55: Recognizing the challenges faced by countries in the aftermath of natural disasters to provide security and basic services to civilians, we reaffirm our commitment to support Haiti and will work to strengthen existing international coordination mechanisms to improve the timeliness, effectiveness and coordination of the international response to such disasters and will continue to support the United Nations Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. (environment)
None
2015-192: We will: Intensify our support particularly for vulnerable countries’ own efforts to manage climate change related disaster risk (climate change)
2015-193: [We will: Intensify our support particularly for vulnerable countries’ own efforts] to build resilience. (climate change)
2015-194: We will aim to increase by up to 400 million the number of people in the most vulnerable developing countries who have access to direct or indirect insurance coverage against the negative impact of climate change related hazards by 2020 (climate change)
2015-195: [We will] support the development of early warning systems in the most vulnerable countries. (climate change)
2015-196: we will learn from and build on already existing risk insurance facilities such as the African Risk Capacity, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility and other efforts to develop insurance solutions and markets in vulnerable regions, including in small islands developing states, Africa, Asia and Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean as set out in the annex. (climate change)
2015-346: We are concerned about the negative effects of climate change and other underlying disaster-risk drivers on food security and nutrition, and we therefore commit to furthering means of sustainably increasing agricultural production and productivity and incomes while adapting and building resilience to climate change and mitigating greenhouse gases. (food and agriculture)
2015-355: We remain committed to addressing the food security [needs of populations affected by natural disasters] (food and agriculture)
2015-356: [We remain committed to addressing the] nutrition needs of populations affected by natural disasters, (food and agriculture)
2016-119: Further, we support UN-led efforts to strengthen the long-term capacity and effectiveness of the international system to respond to humanitarian crises, which includes: (i) increasing resources for humanitarian assistance, (ii) reducing reliance on humanitarian aid by investing in resilience and disaster risk reduction, and by seeking durable solutions to displacement; (iii) broadening the resource base; as well as (iv) enhancing access, efficiency and effectiveness of humanitarian aid delivery systems. (development)
2016-222: [Recognizing the value of taking needs-based responses to health issues for women of all ages, including newborns, children, adolescents, as well as those in fragile and conflict-affected states and humanitarian settings, commit to:] (iii) strengthening the cooperation among the G7’s relevant organizations, making the most of their disaster response experiences and drawing upon the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. (health)
2016-279: We are committed to support refugee and internally displaced women and girls as well as for those affected by conflicts and disasters, by providing assistance to empower them and develop their resilience, and to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence. (gender)
2016-xx: 4) Foster female representation in disaster risk reduction (DRR)
None
2018-117: Exploring opportunities to enhance the economic resilience of vulnerable developing countries, as well as to respond effectively to extreme weather events and other hazards. (development)
2018-118: We will continue to support innovative financing approaches, such as risk insurance to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable developing countries, including Small Island Developing States, and build on existing G7 initiatives. (development)
2018-119: We support the consideration of risk finance and insurance solutions (development)
2018-130: [We will work to ensure international best practices are respected, including on] resilience against risks such as natural disasters (development)
2018-241: [Support better adaptation planning, emergency preparedness and recovery:] We will work in partnership across multiple sectors to identify and assess policy gaps, vulnerabilities, risks and needs, and share lessons learned and expertise. (environment)
2018-242: [Support better adaptation planning, emergency preparedness and recovery:] We encourage the development of coastal management strategies to help plan and build back better, including through standards, best practices and provisions to rebuild natural and physical infrastructure, as appropriate. (environment)
2018-243: [Support better adaptation planning, emergency preparedness and recovery:] [Our efforts will support resilient and quality infrastructure in coasts and coastal communities, particularly in SIDS.] This will include advancing the development and deployment of clean and resilient energy systems, including from renewable sources. (environment)
2018-244: [Support better adaptation planning, emergency preparedness and recovery:] Where appropriate, we will advocate for and support nature-based solutions, such as the protection and rehabilitation of wetlands, mangrove forests, seagrass beds and coral reefs. (environment)
2018-245: To protect coastal communities, we will work to increase the capacity of these communities, particularly in SIDS, to generate and communicate effective early warnings of extreme weather and other geo-hazard related risks. (environment)
2018-246: To this end, we support early warning systems, including through efforts such as the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems initiative, which aims to build the capacity of Least Developed Countries and SIDS. (climate change)
2018-247: We will develop gender-sensitive planning strategies that integrate economic growth, adaptation, sustainable development, conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and disaster risk reduction. (environment)
2018-248: In ensuring more inclusive, comprehensive approaches, we will support women’s equal participation in decision-making for disaster risk reduction and recovery. (environment)
2018-252: [Support innovative financing for coastal resilience:] We will explore broadening disaster risk insurance coverage, including through global and regional facilities, such as the InsuResilience Global Partnership, to extend high quality insurance coverage to vulnerable developing countries and beneficiaries in need and to encourage new types of insurance products for emerging risks. (climate change)
2018-253: [Launch a joint G7 initiative to deploy Earth observation technologies and related applications to scale up capacities for the integrated management of coastal zones:] We intend to leverage innovation in the field of Earth observation technologies and related applications and make them broadly available in the poorest and most vulnerable regions of the world in order to support disaster risk prevention (environment)
2018-254: [We intend to leverage innovation in the field of Earth observation technologies and related applications and make them broadly available in the poorest and most vulnerable regions of the world in order to support] contingency planning (environment)
2018-255: [We intend to leverage innovation in the field of Earth observation technologies and related applications and make them broadly available in the poorest and most vulnerable regions of the world in order to support] spatial planning (environment)
2018-256: [We intend to leverage innovation in the field of Earth observation technologies and related applications and make them broadly available in the poorest and most vulnerable regions of the world in order to support] infrastructure and building design (environment)
2018-257: [We intend to leverage innovation in the field of Earth observation technologies and related applications and make them broadly available in the poorest and most vulnerable regions of the world in order to support] early warning systems (environment)
2018-258: [We intend to leverage innovation in the field of Earth observation technologies and related applications and make them broadly available in the poorest and most vulnerable regions of the world in order to support] risk transfer mechanisms. (environment)
None
None
2021-152: [We will explore how existing and potential new mechanisms and initiatives can support] … natural disasters (climate change)
2021-210: We also encourage further development of disaster risk finance markets. (climate change)
2021-426: As we continue to see the benefits of international collaboration in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have a shared aspiration for more flexible and agile research collaborations facilitating rapid, interdisciplinary, and evidence-based responses to future systemic crises and natural disasters across G7 nations and beyond. (international cooperation)
2022-36: We commit to scale up climate and disaster risk finance and insurance (CDRFI) (climate change)
2022-37: [We] … will work towards a Global Shield against Climate Risks, building on the InsuResilience Global Partnership and other initiatives. (climate change)
2022-38: We ask our Development Ministers to make progress on the Global Shield by COP 27. (climate change)
2023-85: Bearing in mind that many countries are vulnerable to disasters, including Small Island Developing States, we will accelerate international disaster risk reduction cooperation in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and the output of its midterm review conducted by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). (climate change)
2023-114: We will continue to scale up and enhance support to strengthen the resilience of climate-vulnerable groups through enhancing climate change adaptation and climate disaster risk reduction (climate change)
2023-115: [We will continue to scale up and enhance support to strengthen the resilience of climate-vulnerable groups through]…enhancing response and recovery and early-warning systems including through the Global Shield against Climate Risks and other initiatives related to early warning systems and the adoption of climate-resilient debt clauses. (climate change)
2023-126: This will include implementing the UNFCCC-COP27/The 4th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA4) decision to establish new funding arrangements, including a fund, for developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, in the context of article 8 of the Paris Agreement, and providing support identified in the “G7 Inventory on Climate Disaster Risk Reduction, Response and Recovery”. (climate change)
2023-324: In this regard, we commit to advancing, implementing and strengthening the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda including its application to disaster risk reduction (DRR), through partnership with the WPS-Focal Points Network and support for National Action Plan development, and to promote intersectional approaches. (gender)
2023-408: [We are committed to working with regional partners to address]… natural disasters (climate change)
2023-599: Supporting synergistic data collection, analysis and dissemination work by international organizations including the International Grains Council's (IGC) data collection and analysis and the FAO's development of early warning models (food and agriculture)
2024-228: We will also take steps to prevent, manage, and address the negative impacts of extreme wildfires. (environment)
2024-434: We commit to advance the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda, including its application to disaster risk reduction
Brittaney Warren is director of compliance and climate change research for the G7 and G20 Research Groups, based at the University of Toronto, which sits on Treaty 13 and Williams Treaty lands and is home to many First Nations, Inuit and Métis. She has published on climate change, health and accountability measures in a summit context. She holds a master’s degree in environmental studies from York University. She has published 21st Century Garden of Eden: A Climate Change Story & Adult Colouring Book, which can be ordered at www.lulu.com.
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