UN climate chief warns political divisions weaken fight against ‘economic security emergency’

Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), told the European Parliament’s environment committee in Brussels on Thursday that climate change had become an “economic security emergency across the continent,” referring to the scorching summer that has killed tens of thousands of people and damaged infrastructure, businesses and economies across Europe.

Climate ‘culture wars’

““Climate is sometimes seen as a partisan issue: as a culture war area,” Stiell said. “That’s just plain wrong..”

He said the summer heat had forced mass evacuations, closed power plants, disrupted trade routes and reduced crop yields, pushing food prices even higher in the future.

Elsewhere, he cited devastating floods in the Himalayas and heat-related power outages and water shortages in North Africa, warning that climate impacts are increasingly fueling forced migration both within and between countries.

A study, he said, put the losses due to extreme weather this summer in Europe at 180 billion euros due to lost productivity. and disruption to food, energy and transport – equivalent to the loss of one percentage point of GDP, which is roughly the amount the EU economy is expected to grow this year.

Stiell linked these costs directly to dependence on fossil fuels, and warned of another winter fuel crisis looming over European households and businesses.

Don’t be gentle

“Being soft on climate action means being soft on inflation and the cost of living, soft on sovereignty and security, and soft on economic growth and jobs.he said.

He argues that a green energy transition offers a way out for Europe. Renewable energy now supplies about half of the continent’s electricity supplyhe said, and Solar power plants alone save more than 30 billion euros in Europe in avoiding gas imports during the first six months of the Middle East conflict.

Worldwide, clean energy investment reached more than two trillion dollars last year, he added – twice as much as fossil fuel investment.

Get hot

Without international climate cooperation, Stiell warned, the world will face global warming well above four degrees Celsius; With this in mind, the current policy shows an increase of 2.6 degrees – still well above the 1.5 degree limit agreed by countries in 2015.

Recent UN Environment Program (UNEP) The report found that the limit would be breached, even if only temporarily, it said, if the world took concerted action to lower temperatures.

Stiell called on the European Union to help make progress at the COP31 conference later this year, to be hosted by Turkey, saying the priority was implementation rather than reopening previous agreements.

He pointed to methane gas reduction, food security and urban resilience as areas of shared urgency.

“We live in polarized times,” he said. “But inflation is a common enemy, security is a common goal. Health, jobs, community and prosperity are important to us all. And they all require action on climate.”