Bloc’s member states warned towards utilization of fossil fuels in response to hovering vitality costs amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The United Nations has known as on European Union nations to not resort to extra fossil fuels as they face hovering vitality costs amid fears of winter shortages.
International locations within the bloc are in the midst of an escalating standoff with Russia following the latter’s invasion of Ukraine greater than six months in the past. Moscow has since lowered provides of fuel to EU members, sending costs for the gasoline hovering and throwing nationwide economies into deep uncertainty.
“Within the face of hovering vitality costs which threaten to influence essentially the most weak as winter approaches, some EU member states are turning to investments in fossil fuels infrastructure and provides,” Nada al-Nashif, deputy UN rights chief, informed the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday.
“There isn’t any room for backtracking within the face of the continued local weather disaster,” al-Nashif stated, warning of the long-term penalties of boosting the usage of fossil fuels that contribute to international warming and calling for sooner growth of energy-efficiency tasks and renewables.
She pointed to the devastating floods affecting greater than 33 million individuals in Pakistan for example of what occurs when the world fails to behave on local weather change.
“What number of extra tragedies of this kind do we’d like earlier than the urgency of the second jolts us into motion,” she stated.
Talking on the opening of the council’s 51st session in Geneva, al-Nashif acknowledged that the hovering vitality costs in Europe “threaten to influence essentially the most weak as winter approaches”.
‘Lengthy-term penalties’
Final week, Russia brought on a serious scare when it halted fuel deliveries to Germany by way of the important thing Nord Stream 1 pipeline for an indefinite interval.
European nations accuse Russia of weaponising vitality provides in retaliation for Western sanctions imposed on it over its invasion of Ukraine.
However Moscow continues to insist that the sanctions are inflicting provide points.
Earlier than the warfare, about 40 p.c of the EU’s fuel imports got here from Russia. Now Germany and others are scrambling to provide you with new methods to warmth properties and energy factories.
Al-Nashif, who’s at present serving as performing excessive commissioner for human rights till new chief Volker Turk replaces Michelle Bachelet, known as for the event of energy-saving tasks and renewable vitality sources to be urgently accelerated.
“I urge the EU and its member states to think about the long-term penalties of locking in additional fossil gasoline infrastructure,” she stated.
“It’s important to speed up the event of vitality effectivity tasks and renewables.”
Al-Nashif additionally urged all nations “to hunt an formidable consequence” on the subsequent UN local weather convention in Egypt in November.
They need to search to “tackle loss and harm and meet and enhance local weather finance commitments”, she stated.
In her remarks, al-Nashif additionally touched on rights violations in lots of nations because the 51st common session of the Human Rights Council received below manner, together with the persecution of warfare opponents and journalists in Russia.
“Within the Russian Federation, the intimidation, restrictive measures and sanctions towards individuals voicing opposition to the warfare in Ukraine undermine the train of constitutionally assured elementary freedoms, together with the rights to free meeting, expression and affiliation,” al-Nashif stated.
She additionally stated Moscow was violating the best to entry data by pressuring journalists, blocking the web and thru different types of censorship.
