The US government’s special envoy for the climate, John Kerry, said on Tuesday that Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine was a warning to all countries of the world that they could not be held hostage by authoritarian governments of oil and gas rich countries. to meet their energy supply needs.
Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the UN Conference on the Oceans in Lisbon, Kerry argued that Moscow was using energy as a weapon and would continue to do so in the future, adding that Europe was committed to ending its dependence. from Russia.
“The war in Ukraine” is a warning to everyone that you do not want to be a prisoner of dictatorships of oil-producing countries that want to turn energy into a weapon, “he said.
According to Kerry, “time is running out” for the world to be able to prevent climate change and governments should not use the conflict in Ukraine as an excuse to delay the effort even further.
“We see people choosing short-term (solutions) to meet the challenge of losing Russia’s gas,” he explained. “We can not allow the war in Ukraine to change the reality that we need to reduce emissions (of gases that cause global warming) and we need to accelerate the transition to alternative, renewable energy sources.”
Rising energy prices and supply shocks attributed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine are pushing some countries to bet even more on renewables, but others are choosing to burn more coal, buy gas from other sources or suspend any effort. to reduce the share of fossil fuels in their energy mix.
The EU covered 40% of its gas needs with imports from Russia before the armed conflict broke out in Ukraine.
“We need to supply gas to Europe, something that the United States will work with others,” but it must simply be a matter of meeting needs, “not a series of new infrastructure over a 20- to 30-year horizon, because that would undermine our ability to tackle climate change, he stressed.
“We do not need new liquefied natural gas projects, which would require new drillings,” he added.
Germany has been criticized for years by the United States and others for building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would carry gas directly from Russia to Germany. The project was finally suspended two days before the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.
According to Kerry, it does not make sense “to go back”.
The US special envoy also described the European Union as an “amazing leader” in renewable energy, adding that it was raising the bar for many other countries in the world.
Source: AMPE
Source: Capital
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