Since February, European leaders have gathered to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a risky diversion from the severe and intensifying challenges posed by climate change. Speaking via video link to the COP27 climate meetings in Egypt, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy listed the negative environmental effects of Russia's aggression against his nation, from pressuring other nations to use more coal to disrupting grain supply and escalating food shortages brought on by drought.
Zelenskyy stated at the UN climate summit on Tuesday (Nov. 8) that the invasion of Russia harmed global warming efforts and that a rapidly warming planet "cannot afford a single gunshot." "We must stop those who, with their insane and illegal war, are destroying the world's ability to work united for a common goal," he said.
Leaders from around the world must warn individuals who do not take climate change seriously that they are making "a catastrophic mistake," Zelenskyy continued. "They are the ones who start wars of aggression when the planet cannot afford a single gunshot because it needs global joint actions."
Zelenskyy claimed that Ukraine would present a plan at the conference being held in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to evaluate the effects of military operations on the environment and the climate. According to Zelenskyy, the conflict has damaged at least five million acres (two million hectares) of forest in Ukraine and poses a threat of "a radiation disaster" from the captured Zaporizhzhia facility, which is the biggest nuclear power station in Europe.
Earlier, NATO commander Jens Stoltenberg said switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy was "good for our security" in addition to combating climate change. He claimed that Russia attempted to use "energy as a weapon." Stoltenberg was speaking at a climate conference-related event.
"It is a stark reminder of the need to transition from dependence on fossil fuels to renewables," Stoltenberg remarked. He continued by saying that future military operations would also be environmentally friendly, and advised armies to coordinate their operations with the need to combat global warming.
According to an editorial that appeared in the journal Nature last week, estimates of the planet-warming emissions from the world's militaries range between one and five percent of the worldwide total. The article conducted by experts in Britain claims that this is comparable to shipping or aviation, both of which account for roughly two percent.
However, they cautioned that because armies are mostly insulated from adequate control, attempts to reduce emissions on a global scale run the risk of being "guesswork."
