G7 promises renewable future, but baseload remains carbon-based

Recent diplomatic manoeuvring, not least involving China and the United States, has raised hopes that new controls on emissions levels and the wider promotion of a low-carbon economy can emerge from the COP21 climate talks in Paris in December. Not wishing to repeat the failure of the 2009 Copenhagen climate change conference, G7 leaders emerged from their early June summit in Germany calling for a transformation of power generation towards renewables (and, more surprisingly, nuclear) by 2050. The G7 promised that no fossil fuel would be burned by 2100.