There are times when the U.N. makes the League of Nations look good.
This was one of these times.
The UN Secretary General says the rush to use fossil fuels because of the war in Ukraine is “madness” and threatens global climate targets.
The invasion of Ukraine has seen rapid rises in the prices of coal, oil and gas as countries scramble to replace Russian sources.
But Antonio Guterres warns that these short-term measures might “close the window” on the Paris climate goals.
He also calls on countries, including China, to fully phase out coal by 2040.
Guterres can “call” on countries as much as he likes, but China’s Xi doesn’t seem to be paying too much notice.
China plans a massive increase in coal mining, a move that will dramatically reduce its reliance on imports and deal a blow to its near-term climate actions.
The National Development and Reform Commission, the nation’s top economic planner, told officials from major mining regions at a meeting late last week that it wants to boost domestic production capacity by about 300 million tons, according to people familiar with the matter. It also plans to build a 620 million-ton stockpile of the fuel split between government, miners and users.
Such an increase in output would cut the country’s already scant dependence on foreign imports after global prices hit record levels in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The measures also highlight concerns that China’s reliance on fossil fuels remains as entrenched as ever, as it seeks to enhance energy security to limit disruptions to economic growth, regardless of the impact on its climate goals.
The war in Ukraine and the sanctions that have followed it have only underlined the importance for a country either to be self-sufficient in certain areas (of which energy is one) or to have sources of supply on which it can rely.
However repellent he may be, Xi is not a fool. When it comes to energy resources, China is rich in coal, but not much else, which is why, for example, Beijing is making more arrangements to secure oil and gas (at doubtless attractive prices) from a Russia that is rapidly becoming its junior partner.
How much attention will Xi pay to Guterres?
None.
BBC:
“The problem was not solved in Glasgow,” Mr Guterres says, in a speech delivered at the Economist Sustainability Summit.
“In fact, the problem is getting worse.” The war in Ukraine threatens to make that situation even more problematic, he says.
Europe and the UK and other countries are looking to cut their reliance on Russian oil and gas this year. Many are turning to coal or imports of liquefied natural gas as alternative sources.
But Mr Guterres warns this short-term approach heralds great danger for the climate.
“Countries could become so consumed by the immediate fossil fuel supply gap that they neglect or knee-cap policies to cut fossil fuel use,” Mr Guterres said.
“This is madness. Addiction to fossil fuels is mutually assured destruction.”
What is madness is to continue to argue for policies that fail to take any account of current geopolitical realities. But then cheerleaders for millenarianism and for central planning at its most reckless (and current climate policies manage to combine elements of both of these appalling traditions) are not known for taking much account of reality.
For the West to follow Guterres’s advice (because no one else will) would be to ensure either its own collapse or, as an alternative, to risk setting the planet on a course far more dangerous than anything that the climate may or may not do in, say, half a century from now.