Coal plants in the Group of 7 ( G7 ) are on track to cost the world US$450 billion a year by the end of the century and reduce crops by millions of tons as they fuel the gathering pace of climate change, Oxfam says in its new report.

In the report entitled 'Let Them Eat Coal', Oxfam warns that coal is the biggest driver of climate change, which is already hitting the world's poorest people hardest and making the fight to end hunger tougher. The G7 countries remain major consumers of coal, it says.

'The G7 leaders must stop using emissions growth in developing countries as an excuse for inaction and begin leading the world away from fossil fuels by starting with their own addiction to coal,' Oxfam International's director of advocacy and campaigns, Celine Charveriat, said in a release on Saturday.

The international agency reveals that Africa faces costs of $84 billion a year by the end of the century for the damage caused by G7 coal emissions. This is 60 times the amount Africa currently receives from the G7 in aid to support agriculture and food production, it says.

Citing an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, Oxfam says Africa's food production systems are highly vulnerable to climate change, with declines likely in cereal crops across the continent of up to 35 percent by mid-century.

The agency warns that 7 million tons of crops could be lost annually by the 2080s because of G7 coal emissions.

Charveriat said the G7's coal habit was racking up costs for Africa and other developing regions.

'It's time G7 leaders wake up to the hunger their own energy systems are causing to the world's poorest people on the frontline of climate change,' she said. (ebf)(++++)