Putin’s war in Ukraine displaces climate as top concern, drives oil prices to 8-year high

(The Energy Mix, 25 Feb 2022) The climate emergency was pushed to the back burner in international relations and oil prices hit US$105 per barrel this week after Russian President Vladimir Putin capped weeks of escalating tensions by launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“The perils of a warming planet are no less calamitous now, but the debate about the critically important transition to renewable energy has taken a back seat to [short-term] energy security as Russia—Europe’s largest energy supplier—threatens to start a major confrontation with the West,” the New York Times wrote Wednesday.

“The renewed emphasis on energy independence and national security may encourage policy-makers to backslide on efforts to decrease the use of fossil fuels that pump deadly greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,” added global economics correspondent Patricia Cohen. “Already, skyrocketing prices have spurred additional production and consumption of fuels that contribute to global warming.,” with the European Union importing 56% more coal in January than it did in the same month last year.

On Wednesday, Germany shut down certification of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia, Clean Energy Wire writes. Yesterday, after Russia began what Ukraine described as a “full-scale invasion”, oil prices pushed above US$105 per barrel for the first time since 2014, and natural gas prices in Europe rose 41%, Bloomberg reports. Both sides were presumably fighting in battle tanks that measured their fuel performance in gallons per mile, not miles per gallon.

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The Energy Mix, 25 Feb 2022: Putin’s war in Ukraine displaces climate as top concern, drives oil prices to 8-year high

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