Wars, energy security reshape global climate debate at COP31

Antalya: The two-day Leaders' Summit at the UN Climate Change Conference has underscored how climate action is increasingly being framed as an issue of economic and energy security rather than an environmental one, even as geopolitical tensions and fragmentation threaten international cooperation on emissions reduction.

This reconfiguration was perhaps inevitable, given the impact of the ongoing wars and conflicts on energy prices and the global economy. Governments are reworking their priorities.

"We started talking more about weapons and tariffs than the survival of future generations," the recently re-elected Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told world leaders at COP31, drawing attention to the lack of global climate leadership at the G7 and G20.


The biggest greenhouse gas emitters, instead, are more focused on discussing weapons and tariffs, and perceive energy transition as a hurdle to security and prosperity of nations, Lula said.

Meanwhile, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) executive secretary Simon Stiell underscored the critical importance of climate action for economic security across nations.

"Today, chaos in global energy markets and climate disasters are supercharging inflation, slamming government budgets, pushing household bills up and living standards down," he said. "The political costs of fossil fuel dependency are unforgiving. Climate action can help relieve the pressures."

Other leaders also noted that tackling global warming will require cooperation, collective action and support.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, whose country will host the next year's UN climate talks, stressed on the role of finance. "Warning systems are only effective if people have the means. Dependable finance requires cooperation, even as cooperation between countries grows weaker," he said.

Nearly 70 heads of state and government attended the summit. Among those missing were leaders of India, France, Germany, the US and Canada.