On 2 and 3 June, the UN climate summit +50 will be held at Älvsjömässan in Stockholm, where Sweden together with Kenya will host. The impending climate crisis requires adaptation work that makes Agenda 2030 a reality, and the Ukraine War may have an impact on future climate work.
It has now been 50 years since the UN's first climate conference, the Stockholm Conference, which was held in 1972. In addition to celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Stockholm + 50 conference aims to accelerate climate change as well as contribute to the development of sustainable jobs and “An environment in balance for everyone”. This ambition has been captured in the theme of the summit - "the decade of action" - and the hope is that the countries will agree on various practical solutions that will contribute to the realization of Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement, reports the magazine OmVärlden.
Alongside the climate crisis, the ongoing war in Ukraine is still present, where Russian gas and oil have largely financed the Russian attack. As a result of the war of aggression, energy security has become an increasingly important issue for the countries of the world, where climate change is a possible way out of dependence on fossil fuels from, among others, Russia. According to Björn-Ola Linnér, professor of climate policy at Linköping University, it is possible to see a connection between the war in Ukraine and climate change.
- Major societal changes have often been followed by disruptive events, says Björn-Ola Linnér in one interview with OmVärlden.
Furthermore, Björn-Ola Linnér believes that the climate issue can become a kind of free zone, where countries can reach a consensus. At the same time, he emphasizes that the war has had a negative effect on international relations.
- The war has shattered international trust between countries and I think that risks affecting continued climate negotiations, says Björn-Ola Linnér to OmVärlden.
The head of research: "We need urgent action"
The UN Climate Panel IPCC published the report on 28 February this year: "Climate in change 2022: Effects, adaptation and vulnerability". The concept action gap is recurring in the report and refers to the lack of action in climate change.
- When we look at various reports from, among others, the UN Climate Panel, we see that we affect the planet unparalleled, we need urgent transformative action. It is clear when we look at the research that we need to look at our economic systems, says Åsa Persson, head of research at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), to SvD Näringsliv.