KABUL (Pajhwok): World leaders attending the COP31 climate summit in Türkiye are promoting climate action as a way to strengthen economies and reduce the cost of living amid rising inflation and disruptions to global energy markets.
The message, repeated during discussions and plenary sessions at the annual United Nations climate conference, reflects efforts by organisers to draw governments’ attention to climate change despite competing crises that have pushed global warming down their list of priorities, Reuters reported.
One of these challenges is rising inflation, partly driven by disruptions to crude oil shipments from the Middle East since the outbreak of the Iran war.
Higher fuel and food prices have also become a major political concern in the United States and a challenge for governments across Europe, Asia and elsewhere.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres told world leaders attending the summit on Wednesday that three-quarters of the world’s population live in countries that import fossil fuels and are vulnerable to price shocks beyond their control.
“Recent conflicts make clear that this is a recipe for chronic insecurity and a cost-of-living meltdown,” he said, adding that the solution was a shift towards renewable energy.
Simon Stiell, head of the UN climate office, also highlighted the economic consequences of dependence on fossil fuels.
“Today, chaos in global energy markets and climate disasters are supercharging inflation, slamming government budgets, pushing household bills up and living standards down,” he told the conference.
“The political costs of fossil fuel dependency are unforgiving. Climate action can help relieve the pressures,” he added.
John Kerry, a former US secretary of state who has advocated climate action for decades, welcomed the renewed focus on the economic and social benefits of addressing climate change.
Climate change has become an increasingly divisive political issue in recent years, particularly in the United States, where President Donald Trump withdrew the country from international climate cooperation last year after describing global warming as a hoax.
“I think everybody who is working on climate needs to change the way they talk about it,” Kerry told reporters on the sidelines of the summit.
He said security, health, jobs, community stability and food supplies were issues that resonated with people.
However, speakers at COP31 generally agreed that the main reason for climate action should remain the overwhelming scientific evidence that global warming is caused by human activities and poses serious dangers.
“It is our responsibility to turn scientific evidence into political action and ensure that our decisions are guided by fact, not short-term political interests,” Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar told the summit on Wednesday.
European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jørgensen said highlighting the wider benefits of reducing emissions could help build consensus, including among climate sceptics.
“Because even if you don’t believe in climate change, which I obviously do, we should be able to agree that moving away from a dependency on fossils is extremely smart for security reasons,” he said.
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