UN: Climate Change Goals to Be Impacted by Russia-Ukraine Conflict

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, indicated that the climate change goals could be impacted by Russia and Ukraine's ongoing conflict, noting that its impact on food and energy markets could have serious effects on the fight to curb the climate crisis.

In his address to "The Economist Sustainability Summit," Guterres said that "the fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine risks upending global food and energy markets -- with major implications for the global climate agenda."

"As major economies pursue an 'all-of-the-above' strategy to replace Russian fossil fuels, short-term measures might create long-term fossil fuel dependence and close the window to 1.5 degrees. Countries could become so consumed by the immediate fossil fuel supply gap that they neglect or knee-cap policies to cut fossil fuel use," the statement added.

A major UN-backed estimate, published last month, found the impacts of human-caused climate change were larger than previously thought and warned of irreversible impacts if the world exceeds 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming.

The UN's Climate Change Action Agenda aims at limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.

To achieve this long-term temperature goal, the UN calls on the global community and industrial countries to work hard to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to achieve a climate-neutral world by mid-century.