ANKARA: France’s president encouraged G7 countries on Friday to stop using coal by 2030.

Emmanuel Macron enumerated several key points to improve the fight against climate change during an address to the 28th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in Dubai, reported Anadolu Agency.

Macron said the ‘primary priority’ for the most developed countries is to end the use of fossil energy, emphasising that France and Europe are advancing in that direction.

“Emerging countries must exit coal, this is the second fight,“ he said, adding that G7 countries should show an example of how to quit coal by 2030.

“We must stop subsidising new coal-fired plants,“ Macron noted, adding that continuing investments in coal are an “absurdity.”

He stressed the need to “align trade policies with ecology transition.”

“I strongly believe that we must include climate rules in the World Trade Organisation’s rules, “ he said.

Macron noted that no country “has to choose between the fight against poverty and the fight against climate change,“ and evoked Africa, where agriculture remains very important.

“All of this must lead us to transform the international financial architecture that was conceived at a time when most of the countries that are present now in this room, were not existing,“ said Macron as he pledged more justice and inclusiveness.–Bernama-AA