During COP27, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated, “There can be no successful climate policy without global peace” if countries are preoccupied with defending themselves.
In less than six months, Russian shelling has destroyed five million acres of forest in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated in a scathing critique of Vladimir Putin’s war and its worldwide repercussions.
The war is “killing the world’s ability to work together toward a shared objective,” the Ukrainian president warned in a climate summit video address to world leaders.
There can be no successful climate policy without world peace,” he asserted if states are too focused on “how to protect themselves from their immediate challenges.
Countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, India, and Pakistan have been forced to burn more coal – the dirtiest fossil fuel – to keep the lights on as a result of Russia’s conflict and gas supply cutoffs.
On Monday, the Russian delegation informed that an energy crisis was brewing in Ukraine before its “special operation.”
During the United Nations climate meetings, several world leaders expressed dire warnings about how the war threatens global climate action by pulling countries inward and diverting attention away from the necessary teamwork to combat the crisis.
Connecting the dots between interconnected problems, Mr. Zelenskyy stated that the food crisis triggered by the war had “worst affected those nations suffering from the existing manifestations of climate change, catastrophic droughts, and large-scale flooding.”
Egypt, which is hosting climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea, exemplifies this connection. When war hindered grain shipments, the world’s largest wheat importer, which needed to create its staple bread, was left reeling.
As the Nile river dries up and the Nile Delta is poisoned by salt from increasing seas, climate change is progressively eroding Egypt’s little arable land.
“Fossil fuel corporations profiting from conflict”
The second day of the annual two-week summit, held under a searing 29C sun, was dominated by requests from vulnerable nations for assistance in halting the climate crisis.
Some want the international community to approach climate change as it does nuclear weapons by adopting a non-proliferation agreement that prohibits the production of fossil fuels.
Tuvalu’s prime minister, Kausea Natano, warned his fellow leaders, upon joining Vanuatu, that fossil fuels are the primary cause of the climate issue.
It’s growing too hot, and there’s very little time to halt and reverse the temperature rise, therefore it’s imperative to prioritize swift-acting methods.
Those who live on islands, which are especially vulnerable to sea level rise, seek a global tax on the unexpected, additional billions of profits fossil fuel corporations have enjoyed as a result of Russia’s war.
Gaston Browne, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, spoke on behalf of several island nations when he stated, “While they benefit, the globe is burning.”
Zero tolerance for greenwashing
Elsewhere in the sprawling venue of buildings and temporary structures, punctuated by the occasional palm tree and long lines for coffee, Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, denounced the “blatant deception” of fossil fuel companies with net zero pledges who are still expanding their operations.
The secretary-general desires a crackdown on greenwashing and net-zero commitment gaps.
However, the topic of conversation is money. Payment for climate “loss and damage”—irreversible repercussions beyond the scope of human adaptation, such as the demise of Egypt’s coral reef and the massive tourism sector if seas overheat—could make or break the negotiations.
The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, stated that fossil fuel firms should pay these funds, which would give vulnerable nations with financial assistance for climate-related losses.
The concept does not fly with the majority of large economies.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated, “I believe now is not the time to design tax regulations, but rather to jointly develop measures to protect against the effects of climate change.” John Kerry, the US special envoy for climate change, has likewise dismissed the notion of “compensation,” stating that there are other ways to assist.
Even when money is short due to the cost of the living problem, vulnerable nations point to the numerous billions found to aid Ukraine in its struggle against Russia or during the COVID crisis.
Monday, Al Gore, the former vice president of the United States, cautioned about the number of people who would be forced to abandon their homes if the international community did nothing.
Imagine the impact of a billion climate refugees on the prospect of self-government, he said.
