Beyond Trump, Campaigners Demand G7 Leaders Commit to Climate Action

Greenpeace activists in Taormina, Sicily on Friday unveiled a four-meter-high Statue of Liberty covered with a life jacket to symbolize the threat that climate change and rising seas pose. (Photo: Tommaso Galli/Greenpeace)

Global leaders taking part in the Group of Seven (G7) meeting this week are being called upon to brush aside the anti-science recalcitrance of the Trump administration and take the lead in addressing the crisis of climate change.

"The G7 states have played a major role in polluting our planet, but they can and must lead the way in the solution," said Greenpeace International executive director Jennifer Morgan in a statement Friday. "Here and now, the G7 has a chance to show the world they mean business. They mustcountries like the U.S. renege on their obligations, the G7 must move forward without them."

Many will be looking at the G7 communiqué, a document issued at the conclusion of the summit, to see if Trump's presence might "significantly water down a section of the leaders' communiqué devoted to climate and energy policy," Climate Homereported. For comparison, the 2015 document included an agreement to phase out fossil fuel use by the end of the century.

Ahead of the summit, the Elders, a group of human rights- and peace- focused elder statesmen, sent a letter to Italian Prime Minister and G7 President Paolo Gentiloni urging him to "mobilize the collective leadership of the G7 to deepen their commitment to climate action."

According to the group, such action includes collective commitment to and