Easy News: the G7 2021 summit in Cornwall

1. 

   Two weeks ago the UK hosted a number of G7 meetings in a hotel in Cornwall in the south-west of England.

2. 

   G7 stands for Group of Seven. It is made up of seven powerful and wealthy countries. These are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

3. 

   These seven countries represent more than half of all the wealth in the world and around 10% of the world’s population.

4. 

   The group began in 1975 as the G6 to deal with global economic issues such as the 1973 oil crisis, which threatened the supply of oil and a rise in oil prices.

5. 

   Since then, the group meets every year to discuss a large number of international issues such as security, gender equality, climate change, trade, and poverty.

6. 

   Some people dislike the G7 as they believe it only helps the richest people and there have been protests at previous G7 meetings.

7. 

   At the recent G7 meetings, the leaders agreed to help tackle climate change by promising $100bn (£71bn) each year to help poorer countries cut carbon dioxide emissions.

8. 

   Carbon dioxide is a gas produced when fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) are burned. Carbon dioxide can hold a lot of heat and this causes the ‘Greenhouse Effect’ which warms the planet.

9. 

   Some have said that $100bn is not enough money to help. Renewable energies such as wind, solar and hydrogen do not produce carbon dioxide, but are expensive to install.

10. 

    Leaders at the G7 have also agreed to provide 1 billion (one thousand million) Covid vaccine doses for poorer countries.

11. 

    Some people say that this is not enough because 11 billion doses are needed to end the pandemic and vaccinate at least 70 percent of the world’s population by mid-2022.

12. 

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