London: The world’s leading economies must use Russia’s war in Ukraine as an opportunity to accelerate a transition to renewable energy, COP26 president Alok Sharma says, even if some nations will need to rely on more fossil fuels in the short term.

The British cabinet minister, who was entrusted to move the global effort to tackle climate change forward at last year’s Glasgow summit, said Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion had provided a wake-up call that climate and environmental security are now “totally interlinked” with energy and national security.

Alok Sharma, president of COP26, says the war in Ukraine has shown the urgency of transition to secure, renewable energy.Credit:Bloomberg

Sharma will meet with several federal government ministers and crossbench MPs in Canberra this week as he continues to press for the delivery of the Glasgow Climate Pact, which seeks to keep alive the aim of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees.

In an interview with The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald ahead of his trip, Sharma said while some European countries would need to return to their own domestic fossil fuels reserves in the coming years, the dramatic situation showed the importance of fast-tracking renewable projects around the world.

Europe is facing an energy crisis and a potentially bleak winter as it attempts to wean itself off Kremlin gas supplies, while Moscow has slashed capacity on the main pipeline as revenge for widespread sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine.

Germany, Austria and the Netherlands are among a handful of countries to announce emergency restarts of coal-fired power stations, while some governments are preparing to ration gas supplies ahead of the coming winter. Many European nations have also pledged to rapidly boost their efforts to deploy more renewables in to the grid over the coming decade.

A painting on a container in Lubmin, Germany, shows the Nord Stream gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.Credit:AP

“What very many countries have realised is that if you rely on fossil fuels, which are controlled by hostile actors, in this case Russia, it does make you very vulnerable,” Sharma said.

“Climate and environment security are now totally interlinked with energy and national security, and that’s why we are seeing so many countries come forward with plans to accelerate their renewables deployment, to make sure they have home-grown clean energy.

“Of course, what we are seeing now with the immediate needs, there is more use of fossil, but what I have said to every government I have spoken to, is that should be used to allow the space to accelerate renewables, and I think we are going to see that.”

Sharma said he planned to use his visit to Australia to discuss its role as a potential international climate leader in a number of areas, including climate finance and zero-emission vehicles.
He will also engage with state governments and meet with banks, businesses and other groups supporting stronger action on climate.

The leading green voice in Britain’s Conservative government’s cabinet, Sharma won plaudits around the world for his skilful chairing of the fractious UN climate summit last November. The UK retains presidency of the talks until Egypt takes over at the next conference COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh this November. Until then, Sharma will urge nations to fulfil their Glasgow promise to beef up their 2030 targets.

Sharma said he was confident that Britain would remain a global climate leader, regardless of whether Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak emerged victorious in the contest to replace Boris Johnson, who resigned earlier this month among mass mutiny from his colleagues over several scandals.

He said Johnson had done a “brilliant job” in championing climate action both domestically in the UK and also internationally, where he “charmed” and “cajoled” world leaders to increase their ambitions.

“As a result of the work done in the lead up to COP26, we’ve now got 90 per cent of the global economy now covered by net-zero targets,” he said. “When we took up the mantle of organising COP26, that was less than 30 per cent. And that is a result of the real leadership displayed by Boris Johnson.“

Sharma, who earlier this month threatened to quit if Johnson’s replacement scrapped any climate policies, said he had been “very clear” that Britain’s next prime minister “absolutely has to show leadership on this issue”.

“The evidence on climate is unequivocal. The chronic threat of climate change is getting worse. That is what the science tells us.”

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