G7 calls on Opec to play key role to ease global energy supplies

Ministers from the Group of Seven countries on Friday called on Opec to act responsibly to ease a global energy crunch brought on by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, even as they announced a breakthrough commitment to phase out coal-fuelled power.

The call, made at the end of three-day talks in Berlin focused on climate change, underscored that the world’s major economies were grappling with how to contain inflation and higher energy prices while sticking to environmental goals. Opec and its allies, a group known as Opec+, has so far rebuffed Western calls for a faster increase in oil production to lower surging prices.