UN chief worries Ukraine war overshadowing climate fight

STOCKHOLM (AP) — U.N. Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres on Wednesday warned that the Ukraine battle is diverting consideration away from local weather change, whereas on the similar time showcasing the world’s “suicidal” dependence on fossil fuels.

Talking forward of an environmental convention in Stockholm, Guterres mentioned the dimensions of the battle has “inevitably” shifted the main target from different points, together with efforts to halt the worldwide temperature rise.

“The sense of urgency within the debate on local weather has after all suffered with the battle in Ukraine,” Guterres advised reporters on the Swedish prime minister’s official residence. “However I believe this battle has demonstrated one factor: How fragile is the world in its dependence on fossil fuels.”

He pointed to selections by the European Union this week to cease most imports of Russian oil as a part of sanctions imposed after the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. The battle has underscored how dependent many European nations are on Russian oil and fuel.

“So it’s time to study the lesson,” Guterres mentioned. “If we don’t need once more to be in the identical scenario we’re in the present day we have to make a transparent wager: large funding in renewable power and clear understanding that the dependence on fossil fuels is a suicidal one.”

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson famous that earlier than the Ukraine battle the world was grappling with different crises together with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Now we have to have the ability to deal with all these crises on the similar time,” she mentioned. “Once we come collectively we will obtain improbable issues collectively.”

Guterres was in Stockholm to attend a two-day convention beginning Thursday to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Human Setting, held in the identical metropolis in 1972. That occasion was the place to begin for U.N. efforts to advertise international environmental motion and led to the creation of the U.N. Environmental Program.