HALIFAX, Canada - Environmental and energy ministers from the Group of 7 gathered here Wednesday for a three-day meeting focusing on joint efforts on climate change, ocean conservation and clean energy.

Ministers of the world's advanced economies -- Canada, France, the United States, Britain, Germany, Japan and Italy -- will also hold talks on sustainable finance, plastic pollution and energy security.

These were also main topics at the G7 Charlevoix summit in June, in which five of the G7 nations and the European Union agreed to the Ocean Plastics Charter, a non-binding accord to tackle ocean plastic waste and marine litter to support resilient coasts and coastal communities.

The United States and Japan did not sign the document.

Representatives from Norway, Vietnam, South Africa, Kenya, Argentina and other countries were also invited to the meeting.