MILAN (AP) — Energy and environment ministers of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations committed Tuesday to phase out coal power by 2035, marking the first time the G7 has explicitly referenced a phase-out, but left flexibility for countries heavily reliant on coal.
The final communique of the meeting in the Italian city of Turin included language that could extend the 2035 deadline to a “timeframe consistent with limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius” above pre-industrialized levels.
Italy’s environment and energy security minister, Gilberto Picchetto Fratin, emphasized the significance of targeting coal, “the source of most emissions.”
The communique puts a timeline to countries' commitments made at the COP 28 conference last year in Dubai, which called for accelerating the phase-down of so-called unabated coal power, where emissions have not been captured.
“This is the first time that a pathway and a goal has been indicated,’’ Picchetto Fratin told a news conference.
Environmental campaigners said the commitment fell short of the goal of decarbonizing power sectors in the G7 nations by 2035, recommended by both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency, which would require phasing out coal by 2030 and gas power by 2035.
The Beyond Fossils Fuel campaign called the coal power phase-out commitment vague, “likely in a bid to coax a coal exit commitment from Japan.”
Japan is the only G7 country without a coal phase-out date. Britain, France, Italy and Canada are committed to phasing out coal no later than 2030, while the United States and Germany “are taking major steps toward this date,’’ said Pieter de Pous, program lead at E3G’s Coal to Clean program.
“G7 ministers need to lead by example and align their commitments with reality and the urgency of the climate crisis,” said Claire Smith with Beyond Fossil Fuels.
Italy's Environment and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin talks during the G7 Climate, energy and environment press conference at Venaria Reale in Turin, Italy, Tuesday April 30, 2024. (Alberto Gandolfo/LaPresse via AP)
Canada's Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault speaks during the G7 Climate, energy and environment press conference at Venaria Reale in Turin, Italy, Tuesday April 30, 2024. (Alberto Gandolfo/LaPresse via AP)
Japan's Minister of Economy Ken Saito, left, and Japan's State Minister of the Environment Tetsuya Yagi take part in the G7 Climate, energy and environment press conference at Venaria Reale in Turin, Italy, Tuesday April 30, 2024. (Alberto Gandolfo/LaPresse via AP)
Italy's Environment and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin talks during the G7 Climate, energy and environment press conference at Venaria Reale in Turin, Italy, Tuesday April 30, 2024. (Alberto Gandolfo/LaPresse via AP)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Actor Riley Keough, the granddaughter of Elvis Presley, is fighting plans to publicly auction his Graceland estate in Memphis after a company tried to sell the property based on claims that a loan using the king of rock ’n’ roll's former home as collateral was not repaid.
A public auction for the estate had been scheduled for Thursday this week, but a Memphis judge blocked the sale after Keough sought a temporary restraining order and filed a lawsuit, court documents show.
A public notice for a foreclosure sale of the 13-acre estate posted earlier in May said Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland museum, owes $3.8 million after failing to repay a 2018 loan. Keough inherited the trust and ownership of the home after the death of her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, last year. Lisa Marie Presley had used Graceland as collateral for the loan, the lawsuit said.
Naussany Investments and Private Lending said Lisa Marie Presley failed to pay back the loan and sought to sell the estate on the courthouse steps, according to the foreclosure sale notice. Keough, on behalf of the Promenade Trust, sued last week, claiming that Naussany presented fraudulent documents regarding the loan and unpaid sum in September 2023.
“Lisa Maria Presley never borrowed money from Naussany Investments and never gave a deed of trust to Naussany Investments," Keough’s lawyer wrote in a lawsuit.
Kimberly Philbrick, the notary whose name is listed on the documents, indicated that she never meet Lisa Marie Presley nor notarized any documents for her, the court filing said. The Associated Press texted Philbrick at numbers believed to be hers, but she didn’t immediately respond.
W. Bradley Russell, a lawyer for Keough, declined comment Tuesday.
Kurt Naussany, who was identified in court documents as a defendant, directed questions in an email to Gregory Naussany. Gregory Naussany told the AP in an email: “The attorneys can make comment!”
An injunction hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in Shelby County Chancery Court.
“Elvis Presley Enterprises can confirm that these claims are fraudulent. There is no foreclosure sale. Simply put, the counter lawsuit has been filed is to stop the fraud,” Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. said in a statement Tuesday.
Graceland opened as a museum and tourist attraction in 1982 as a tribute to Elvis Presley, the singer and actor who died in August 1977 at age 42. It draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
Associated Press reporters Sarah Brumfield in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, contributed to this story.
This story has been corrected to reflect that Russell is a lawyer for Keough, not Naussany Investments.
FILE - Fans wait in line outside Graceland Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017, in Memphis, Tenn. The granddaughter of Elvis Presley is fighting plans to publicly auction his Graceland estate in Memphis after a company tried to sell the property based on claims that a loan using the king of rock ’n’ roll's former home as collateral was not repaid. A public auction for the estate had been scheduled for Thursday, May 23, 2024, but a Memphis judge blocked the sale after Presley’s granddaughter Riley Keough sought a temporary restraining order and filed a lawsuit, court documents show. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill, File)
