Sir, – There may well be a number of self-inflicted wounds we will suffer in Europe and the rest of the world as a result of the draconian sanctions we are imposing on Russia for the unacceptable invasion of Ukraine.
We don’t care about other conflicts in other parts of the world; our “friends” in Saudi Arabia, for example, are carrying out appalling war crimes in Yemen with weapons supplied by the US and UK among others.
Severe sanctions will not stop the war in Ukraine just as sanctions have not resulted in desired changes in North Korea and Iran. However, these severe sanctions will possibly lead to a recession in Europe and possibly much of the rest of the world and this could well result in the election of more populist governments and increasing instability worldwide.
The biggest losers are likely to be action on climate change and the biodiversity crises. Both of these existential crises have suffered from the Covid pandemic (which is not over).
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There is much pretence worldwide that we are taking these crises seriously.
The reality is that we are not doing anywhere near enough to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050. Each report from the IPCC portrays a worsening situation and highlights that we are running out of time to reverse greenhouse gas emissions quickly enough.
Is it even possible to keep global warming to 2 degrees anymore or are we looking at a global temperature increase nearer to 3 degrees or more?
The effects of sanctions on Russian fossil fuels will not, I suspect, result in a rapid increase in energy efficiency, reduced energy demand and an increase in the deployment of renewable energy.
Instead, we will see an increase in investment in fossil fuels in the interest of “energy security” which will lead to further increases in greenhouse gas emissions.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a disaster and is a serious but minor event compared to the climate catastrophe coupled with other sources of environmental destruction such as the biodiversity crises.
We must make every effort to encourage a ceasefire in Ukraine and a peace agreement as quickly as possible and start dealing seriously with climate and environmental issues before it is too late.
– Yours, etc,
NICK ARMSTRONG,
Dundrum,
Dublin 16.