this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2024
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Europe and China and global South were always the only ones interested in a quick energy transition. Oil rich countries will prefer global destruction, but it is only by having customers that they can accomplish it.
Ending the war on Russia will actually reduce emissions more than the US will increase them. The current swing geopolitical area is Europe. Much greater prosperity is available to them by pivoting towards China/clean energy than submitting harder to US diminishment of Russia. It is only by ending war on Russia that you can hope to influence Russia to lower their emissions.
Actually, if you swapped 'on' for 'by' (and cut 'US diminishment' etc.) you'd have a point there - Russian emissions per capita are among the world's highest and growing, while they decline in the rest of the north - most commentators don't notice as Russia has no NGOs left to shout about it.
(Note emissions fell since 1992 but from an even higher peak - while soviet industry produced that huge stockpile of missiles, tanks etc. now being used up). Also there are potentially huge climate feedbacks in Siberian forests and tundra, and we should be cooperating globally to help manage that. Maybe 'europe from lisbon to vladivostok' was a missed opportunity. I crossed siberia by train, helping local scientists attend COP3 in Japan, even studied many russian songs. Maybe one day we'll cooperate again. But now I and many others here think the only way to end these wars, is for russians to dump their crazy leadership which started them.
And Russian emissions are growing as a result of using 3% of global diesel on Ukrainian war. Also the major inflationary pressure on rest of the world as diesel (heating oil is same) refining has been at maximum capacity. Massive military production increases is also massive energy use. Russia has passed Germany and Japan to be 4th largest economy (PPP) from this war.
If EU has a voice in peace for Ukrainians, they could ask for climate progress. Offering more total idiocy of further subjugation to US to keep a war on Russia is EU destruction in addition to climate destruction.