Ukraine war: Fossil fuel ‘gold rush’ could make global warming irreversible

The Ukraine war has caused a “gold rush” for new fossil fuel projects, threatening to lock us into irreversible global warming, according to leading climate researchers.

A new report from Climate Action Tracker (CAT) has found that soaring energy prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion have caused more investment in oil and gas projects.

It spotlights a plethora of new gas projects, many of which will not be built in time to combat the current energy crisis. They will, however, increase emissions in the long term and lock us into carbon-intensive infrastructure for decades to come.

The report points to new liquified natural gas (LNG) projects in Europe, specifically in Germany, Italy, Greece and the Netherlands.

As part of its REPowerEU plan, the EU is betting on LNG to replace the millions of tonnes of gas it currently buys from Russia. Up to €12 billion has been set aside for gas pipeline and infrastructure projects to secure energy supplies while more renewables are built.

But CAT found that these projects could result in the region’s gas supplies being increased by 25 per cent compared to what they were before reducing imports from Russia.

Export demands have also seen Canada, Finland and Estonia fast track new LNG projects. Fossil fuel production has increased overall in Canada, the US, Norway, Italy and Japan since the war broke out.

“The world missed the massive opportunity it had to use the post-pandemic recovery packages to support decarbonisation of their economies - and now it seems this will happen all over again, with this new crisis,” says Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics, one of CAT’s partner organisations.

The latest IPCC report warned that it is “now or never” for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, saying