As Ukraine war, energy crisis threaten gains, climate huddle begins today in Egypt town | World News,The Indian Express
This year’s UN climate summit, known as COP27, is being held under the shadow of an ongoing war in Europe, which, among other things, is contributing to a serious economic downturn and the straining of countries’ capabilities to urgently respond to the climate crisis.
This year’s UN climate summit, known as COP27, is being held under the shadow of an ongoing war in Europe, which, among other things, is contributing to a serious economic downturn and the straining of countries’ capabilities to urgently respond to the climate crisis.
The war in Ukraine has disrupted global energy supplies, upset calculations for the transition to cleaner non-fossil fuels and is threatening to undo the marginal gains made on the climate change front in the last few years. The war is the second shock in as many years, coming close on the heels of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic, at least, had the silver lining of causing a temporary, but welcome drop in global greenhouse gas emissions. The hope is that the Ukraine war might force countries to make a faster transition to newer non-traditional sources of energy, in a case of a crisis becoming an opportunity. However, the negative fallout of a prolonged war, particularly in economic terms, is more direct and immediate.
The consequences of the war on global climate action is likely to dominate discussions at the Sharm el-Shaikh summit. However, that is not the only thing on the top of the minds of climate negotiators. This year has seen unprecedented climate disasters — a historic heat wave in Europe, the worst flooding ever in Pakistan, and a wave of droughts and floods in several parts of the world.
Smaller countries have for long been arguing that they are suffering for no fault of theirs. While their contribution to global emissions are meagre, they face the worst impacts of climate change.
These countries’ demand for compensation is institutionalised in the climate talks in a separate track of negotiations on a loss and damage mechanism, but progress on this front has been painfully slow. However, this particular track is expected to receive some momentum this year. Pakistan’s Minister for Climate Change, Sherry Rehman, who had brought this up during the flooding in the country in August and September, has received a lot of support from climate groups and will be among the high-profile figures at Sharm el-Sheikh.
Rating: 5