Is the war in Ukraine likely to slow down the fight against climate change? – The world

The coal-fired power plant of the Uniper Energy company and the BP refinery next to a wind generator, in Gelsenkirchen (Germany), January 16, 2020. MARTIN MEISSNER / AP “We walk with closed eyes towards climate catastrophe” and war in Ukraine reinforces this “madness”. In a warning more striking than ever, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, summed up the concern of many observers: does the conflict opened by Russia risk dealing a fatal blow to the ambition climate? As the world is shaken by soaring energy prices and by the need to shed its dependence on Russian fossil fuels as quickly as possible, governments face an unprecedented challenge: to act, in the short term, to guarantee hundreds of millions of citizens the possibility of continuing to heat themselves and keep their economies running, while accelerating efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The immediate priority for major economies is to relaunch the production of coal, oil and gas to replace the millions of barrels exported every day by the Russians. “These short-term measures risk creating a long-term dependence on fossil fuels and making it impossible to limit global warming to 1.5°C,” Guterres warned on Monday (March 21). Countries “obsessed” with this supply could “neglect or bring to their knees policies aimed at reducing the use” of these same fuels. Following a meeting of energy ministers on Thursday March 24, the Director General of the International Energy Agency (IEA) expressed the same concerns. “We must be extremely careful that the fight against climate change is not a new victim of the war led by Russia,” said Fatih Birol. The energy sector is at a historic turning point. Concerns about the security of supply must be an additional element to push us to achieve our climate ambitions. “Four months after the Glasgow climate conference (COP26), the objective of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, provided for by the Paris agreement, is now “under respiratory assistance”, according to Antonio Guterres. CO2 emissions from the energy sector jumped last year, by 6%, to an all-time high and are expected to rise another 14% by 2030 – if countries implement their climate plans – while should be reduced by 45%. “The worst-case scenario” “Officially, no country is taking refuge behind the war in Ukraine to call into question its climate objectives, but in reality, some will want to exploit their fossil resources more. Staying the course is a huge challenge,” admits a Western diplomat, who attended a three-day G20 working meeting in Indonesia midweek. Russia is the only country to have announced that it could not meet its commitments (to reduce its net emissions by 80% by 2050 compared to 1900) because of international sanctions. You have 75.65% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.