EU warns of rising climate-fuelled conflict, risks of geoengineering – draft – Stock market news
BRUSSELS, June 26 (Reuters) – The European Union will
call on countries to prepare for “spill over” effects from
increased climate change-driven conflicts, according to a draft
document, and warn of the need to assess new risks posed by
large-scale technological interventions that alter the climate
as a potential route to tackle global warming.
In the draft paper due to be published on Wednesday, the
European Commission said action was needed from national
governments and Brussels to address increasing risks posed by
climate change.
“We should prepare ourselves for increased spill-over
effects on the European Union,” said the draft, seen by Reuters.
“These can arise though increased demand for aid, the
disruption of supply chains or with people fleeing from
uninhabitable areas or severe adverse conditions at home, with
the potential of internal displacement and increased irregular
migration,” it said.
Climate change worsens conflict risks in fragile areas, by
unleashing destructive weather or harming crop yields –
exacerbating food insecurity and destroying people’s
livelihoods. In West Africa’s Sahel, for example, the United
Nations has warned climate change risks unleashing decades of
armed conflict and displacement.
The Commission said the EU would start analysing a range of
climate impacts related to security, such as migration, and
assess the security implications of a global shift away from
fossil fuels.
Non-profit group Clean Air Task Force said more governments
need to take expand their climate change policies to be more
inclusive of other risk factors.
“Decarbonisation pathways that do not account for energy
security, economic growth, development, and that fail to reflect
other external risk factors are extremely fragile,” said Lee
Beck, a senior director at the group.
The draft paper, which could change before it is published,
also flagged new and “poorly understood” risks associated with
geoengineering – potential large-scale technological
interventions to shift the climate, with an aim of cooling the
earth.
“Guided by the precautionary principle, the EU will support
international efforts to assess comprehensively the risks and
uncertainties of climate interventions,” it said, adding that
the EU would also promote talks on a possible international
framework to govern such technologies.
These methods – which could include, for example, spraying
sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere to reflect more sunlight
back into space – have not been attempted at scale, and remain
deeply controversial, with scientists warning of ethical issues
and potential unintended consequences.
(Reporting by Kate Abnett; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
