G7/8 Scholarly Publications and Papers

G7 Stocktake on Energy, Environment and Climate Change

Ella Kokotsis and John Kirton, December 2025
Prepared for Environment and Climate Change Canada

Since its inception in 1975, the G7 has shaped international leadership and catalyzed action on energy, environment, and climate issues. Representing close to 40% of the global economy, the G7 has the capacity to mobilize significant investments to drive energy, biodiversity, environment, and climate action at scale. G7 members are also well positioned to lead changes in related sectors such as transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, finance, and digital technologies. Together, they possess unparalleled technological expertise and research and financial capacity, enabling them to develop and deploy solutions to complex energy and environmental challenges.

The year 2025 presents a critical opportunity for G7 members to reflect on their collective progress in advancing global efforts to address energy security, independence, and transitions, to protect the natural environment, and to take action to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Since 2015, G7 leaders have made 34 G7 commitments to be delivered by 2025, including ten on the environment, nine on climate change, and four on energy.

The year 2025 also marks the 50th anniversary of the G7 and serves as the midpoint of this pivotal decade, as the world advances towards 2030 to fulfill major international commitments under the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

G7 leaders and ministers have made many commitments on energy, climate, and environment that align with these timelines and goals in key areas related to renewable capacity, energy storage, decarbonized power systems, ocean governance, and climate finance.

This year thus represents a key opportunity to take stock of the G7’s progress on these goals, supporting a vision for G7 cooperation to deliver on its 2030 commitments and beyond.

Numerous G7 commitments have defined 2030 as their target deadline:

decarbonizing G7 power systems by the mid-2030s (UK 2021)
collectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 43% by 2030 relative to 2019 levels, to limit global warming to 1.5°C (Germany 2022)
implementing the “30x30” initiative of protecting at least 30% of the world’s land and oceans by 2030 (Germany 2022)
enhancing ocean governance, marine biodiversity, and environmental standards in deep-sea mining, under the “G7 Oceans Deal” (Germany 2022)
increasing energy storage in the power sector, contributing to a global goal of 1,500 GW—a six-fold increase from 2022 (Italy 2024)
reducing global methane emissions by 75% from fossil fuels by 2030 (Italy 2024)
implementing the global goal of tripling installed renewable capacity by 2030 to at least 11 TW, as part of the UAE Consensus (COP 28)
contributing to the $300 billion a year in climate finance to developing countries (COP29).

This report provides a Stocktake of G7 actions on energy, the environment, and climate change for Canada’s 2025 G7 Presidency. It reviews G7 cooperation in these areas, highlighting concrete progress and notable contributions.

Download the full report, prepared for Environment and Climate Change Canada and funded by the Government of Canada.

—	This Information System is provided by the University of Toronto Libraries and the G7 Research Group at the University of Toronto.
	Please send comments to: g7@utoronto.ca This page was last updated December 16, 2025.