Global Security versus Climate Change – what are your thoughts?

The war in the Ukraine (or as the Russians call it the “Special Mission”) other than the appalling humanitarian situation of this (or indeed any war), is also having an impact on global business and governmental response to climate change.

The need for energy security across continental Europe and across the wider world has been exposed for all to see driven by the fact that Russia is a major supplier of oil and gas and Putin has literally got countries over a barrel (of oil). Collective attention has moved from COP26 and the looming threat of climate change onto the need for energy from politically less-threatening sources, at least in the interim.

Responses seem to have been hidden more in the financial and business pages of the newspapers rather than making front page headlines.

Blackrock, the multinational investment management corporation, very publicly made a decision shortly after COP26 in November 2021 to invest substantially in sustainable energy and divest itself of the older carbon-based fuels. An announcement this week from Blackrock published in the Daily Telegraph has reversed this intention, at least for now.

Just last weekend the UK Government was rumoured to be considering approving the deep coking coal mine in Cumbria, which was so prominent an issue in the news before the Glasgow summit, when it looked like there was absolutely no way planning permission would be granted. It will be early July when we know what the decision on this will be and perhaps this could give business an early warning indicator as to how serious the current Government are in the pace of progress towards some of the COP26 initiatives.

Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and a world leading economist in the energy sector said in the Guardian that “I understand some countries may look at new fossil fuels but they should remember it takes many years to start production. [These projects] are not the solution to our urgent energy security needs and they will lock in fossil fuel use.”

As the old proverb goes “may we live in interesting times”…perhaps not so interesting! Businesses and those seeking to manage environmental and energy risks will need to keep a sharp focus on this rapidly changing landscape in the coming months.