by Kostis Geropoulos*
The 2021 COP summit in Glasgow, Scotland was considered a success, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has soured the overall mood of most governments in regard to climate talks.
“We’re hearing voices, some of them genuine, some of them may be on purpose, saying, ‘Europe is now looking at resolving its energy supply and the cost of energy, but it’s forgotten about climate action’. The urgency is just as it was before. We need to replace our energy resources and we might need to extend the use of coal and nuclear power plants in the short term, but this does not mean that Europe should veer away from its 2030 and 2050 targets. The current energy supply crisis cannot distract us from addressing climate action,” Dusik argued.
The European Union, the United States, Japan, Canada, Norway, Singapore and the United Kingdom signed a joint declaration on November 11 noting that they are committed to taking rapid action to address the dual climate and energy security crises that the world faces following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Focus on Africa, Latin America
Africa is an important priority for Europe in the long term. Egypt made it very clear to this year’s summit organizers that they wanted this to be an Africa COP as the continent’s potential is enormous, not so much in terms of reducing emissions because they’re rather negligible for the most part, but they have a lot of potential in regards to forests and nature-based solutions. There is a clear link with biodiversity.
continue reading here:
*Co-founder / Director of Energy & Climate Policy and Security at NE Global Media
(neglobal.eu., November 17, 2022)
