The G7 summit took place in Cornwall over the weekend, with climate change a key topic of discussion amongst the world leaders.

Agreements made by the seven nations include; commitment to net zero carbon by 2050 and to halve their collective emissions by 2030.

There was also a re commitment to help poorer countries adapt to climate change, which was originally agreed 11 years ago and funding to help move away from coal.

David Attenborough addressed world leaders at the summit, warning that the ‘natural world today is greatly diminished’ and that ‘humans are on the verge of destabilising the entire planet’.

He also said that tackling climate change is as much a political challenge as it is a scientific one.

Urgent and collective action is needed from all countries to try and tackle the climate crisis.

Environmental campaigners were visible across Cornwall over the weekend of the summit, hoping that there would be major and radical commitments from world leaders.

But instead many have been left disappointed with the announcements made. The lack of a plan for many of the commitments is concerning some, so is the lack of climate finance being offered by the G7.

Climate finance refers to local, national or transnational financing, drawn from public, private and alternative sources of financing.

Its aim is to support mitigation and adaptation actions that will address climate change.

The Kyoto protocol and the Paris climate agreement called for financial assistance to be provided by richer countries, which is then used to help poorer countries with more vulnerability to climate change.

The objective of such funding is designed to reduce the inequality between nations’ ability to deal with and halt climate change.

Large-scale investments are needed to significantly reduce emissions, this investment is needed across the world to tackle climate change.

The actions of rich nations alone will not be enough. If the world is to move away from the use of fossil fuels and switch to clean sources, we must ensure developing countries are not left behind.

Whilst funding adaptation methods is also important, if we are adapting to something the damage has already been done. The focus should be ensuring developing countries can access the technology and resources they need without destroying the planet further.

The climate change debate will not end following the G7 meetings, the UN Climate Conference (COP26) also takes place this year in Glasgow.

It was hoped that the G7 would be laying the groundwork for the upcoming climate conference, showing real commitment to the goals the COP26 is setting out to agree.

The goals already set out for the conference in November are even more ambitious. They include meeting global net zero by mid-century.

Protecting and restoring ecosystems and pledging at least $100bn a year to climate financing.

These goals might be ambitious, but they are essential to ensuring a stable planet.

Only by working together can we lay the foundations for a greener, cleaner and brighter future.