PARIS: A meeting of the Group of Seven environment ministers is set to begin in Paris on Thursday, but climate change has been deliberately excluded from formal discussions in an effort to avoid tensions with the United States.
Officials from the office of France’s ecology minister Monique Barbut said the two-day gathering would instead focus on “less contentious issues” to preserve unity among member states.
“We chose not to address the climate issue head-on… because the United States’ positions on this subject are well known,” the ministry said.
“We wanted to prioritise G7 unity, particularly to protect this forum.”
The move reflects policy shifts under Donald Trump, whose administration has withdrawn from international climate agreements and rolled back environmental protections since returning to power in 2025.
Biodiversity financing
Environment ministers from France, Italy, Canada, Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom are attending the meeting, while Washington will be represented by Usha-Maria Turner from the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Instead of climate change, discussions will centre on biodiversity financing, ocean conservation, and desertification. France is leading an initiative to mobilise public and private funding to protect ecosystems, with plans to announce around $800 million for national parks in roughly 20 African countries.
Environmental groups, however, criticised the decision to exclude climate from the agenda.
“A G7 moving at the pace of the United States cannot claim to respond to the crises of the century,” said Gaia Febvre of Climate Action Network.
“By yielding to pressure, it weakens collective action and renounces its potential leading role.”
The meeting comes ahead of a global conference in Colombia, where more than 50 nations are expected to discuss phasing out fossil fuels, a key driver of climate change.
