COP27: Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky says climate policy impossible without peace
- Russia’s war has led to an energy crisis that is forcing nations to turn back to coal, the president says in a video message
- The invasion has also prompted a food crisis, and the countries most affected are the same ones badly hit by the effects of climate change, he added
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has distracted world governments from efforts to combat climate change, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video message played at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt on Tuesday.
“There can be no effective climate policy without the peace,” he said, highlighting the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on global energy supplies, food prices and Ukraine’s forests.
“This Russian war has brought about an energy crisis that has forced dozens of countries to resume coal-fired power generation in order to lower energy prices for their people … to lower prices that are shockingly rising due to deliberate Russian actions.”
“[It] brought an acute food crisis to the world, which hit worst those suffering the existing manifestations of climate change ... the Russian war destroyed 5 million acres of forests in Ukraine in less than six months,” Zelensky said.
Ukraine is hosting an exhibition space this year for the first time at a UN climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. But unlike the other booths at COP27 that are festooned in colourful logos, flags and greenery, Ukraine’s stood out for its bleakness – covered in grey to symbolise the war at home.