Berlin “Countries struggling to replace the supply of Russian oil, gas and coal with any available alternative could fuel the” mutually assured destruction “of the world through climate change, the head of the United Nations warned on Monday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that the strategy of “all of the above” is being pursued by major economies to end imports of fossil fuels from Russia because of their invasion of Ukraine it could kill hopes of keeping global warming below dangerous levels.
“Countries could become so consumed by the immediate fossil fuel supply gap that they neglect or neglect fossil fuel use reduction policies,” he said in a video at an event hosted by the weekly Economist. “This is crazy. Fossil fuel addiction is a mutually assured destruction.”
Germany, one of Russia’s largest energy customers, wants to increase its supply of Gulf oil and speed up the construction of terminals to receive liquefied natural gas.
In the United States, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said earlier this month that the war in Ukraine was a reason for U.S. oil and gas producers to our own country “.
Guterres said that “instead of slowing down the decarbonisation of the global economy, now is the time to put the pedal on the metal for a future of renewable energy.”
Sergei Karpukhin / REUTERS
His comments came as scientists from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change began a two-week meeting to finalize their latest report on the world’s efforts to curb global greenhouse gas emissions. .
A separate report, published last month, found that half of humanity is already at serious risk of climate change and this will increase with every tenth of a degree of warming.
Guterres said the goal of the Paris climate agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) was “vital support” because countries are not doing enough to reduce emissions.
With temperatures already about 1.2 degrees higher than before industrialization, keeping the Paris target alive requires a 45% reduction in global emissions by 2030, he said.
But after a pandemic-related drop in 2020, emissions rose sharply again last year.
“If we continue with more of the same, we can say goodbye to 1.5,” he said. “Even 2 degrees can be out of reach. And that would be a catastrophe.”
Guterres urged the world’s largest emerging and developed economies to significantly reduce emissions, even quickly ending their dependence on coal – the most polluting fossil fuel – and for private companies to continue to account for its use.
- In:
- War
- Ukraine
- Russia
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