The world is grappling with the worst energy crisis in generations however the U.N. has warned Europe that a return to fossil fuels in response to soaring prices and winter shortages must not be considered under any circumstances.
Russia has reduced supplies of gas to Europe since its invasion of Ukraine, sending fuel prices soaring, while supply chain issues in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic have also hit deliveries. [bold, links added]
Despite those travails, “There is no room for backtracking in the face of the ongoing climate crisis,” deputy U.N. rights chief Nada Al Nashif told the United Nations Human Rights Council.
She claimed the devastating floods affecting more than 33 million people in Pakistan are an example of what will happen to the world’s climate if there is a [massive] return to fossil fuels instead of seeking alternatives.
“How many more tragedies of this sort do we need before the urgency of the moment jolts us into action?” she pleaded.
Speaking at the opening of the council’s 51st session in Geneva, Al Nashif acknowledged soaring energy prices in Europe “threaten to impact the most vulnerable as winter approaches.”
Al Nashif pointed out “some E.U. member states are turning to investments in fossil fuels infrastructure and supplies” and declared they must stop.
“While that impulse is understandable, I urge the E.U. and its member states to consider the long-term consequences of locking in more fossil fuel infrastructure,” she declared.
“It is essential to accelerate the development of energy efficiency projects and renewables.”
Al Nashif urged all countries “to seek an ambitious outcome” at the next U.N. climate conference, COP27, set down for Egypt in November.
They should seek to “address loss and damage and meet and increase climate finance commitments”, she said, noting claims for financial redress will be on the table.
Even as the U.N. looks toward Europe and scolds any potential return to fossil fuel as a power source, elsewhere nothing has changed.
As Breitbart News reported, a joint paper released in January last year by the U.S.-based Global Energy Monitor (GEM) and Helsinki-based Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) found China built over three times as much coal-fired electrical power capacity in 2020 as the rest of the world combined.
h/t Runar O.
Read rest at Breitbart
300 times more people die every year from a lack of energy than from the climate. The climate is a made-for-TV fake crisis. Life on earth is carbon based. Any level of CO2 below 2,000ppm is a starvation level low. All life on earth is literally made from CO2. More CO2 makes life greener, stronger, more abundant, and drought tolerant. Yet journalists and far too many grade school teachers fail to understand at all the science of CO2 fertility. Fossil fuels are the ONLY GREEN ENERGY because they recycle the far too rare and precious most important ingredient of the environment (and us!) – all life. Carbon is the 2nd most abundant ingredient of every living species. Where does the UN think it comes from? Who elected these ignorant, useless UN bureaucrats? They are doing far more harm than good.
If Pakistan’s recent flood could be blamed on the use of fossil fuels, Europe would be last on the list of culprits. Europe is in dire straits because they went all-in for renewables. The UN says that Europe should not adjust to the new reality.
Unless there is a regime change in Moscow, Europe needs new dependable sources of energy of any kind.
COP27 is going to be interesting.
The suggested reply to this should be: “EU to the UN, go f* yourself!” Who elected you to order free countries around? Maybe you should send in the “Blue Helmets” to enforce your decrees!
So it was perfectly fine to use Russian oil and gas, but now domestic production is verboten? If Russia was to resume production would that be acceptable again?