G7 summit ‘A colossal failure’ on poverty and climate

Boris Johnson has sought to defend the deal struck by G7 leaders at the Cornwall summit, as green groups and anti-poverty campaigners said the rich nations’ club had failed to match the scale of the challenges facing the world.

The final communique contained no early timetable to eradicate coal-fired emissions, offered only 1bn extra coronavirus vaccines for the world’s poor over the next 12 months and made no new binding commitments to challenge China’s human rights abuses.

Campaigners expressed profound disappointment at the failure to attach new cash to the communique’s aspirations to end the pandemic, “build back better” and tackle the climate emergency.