UN climate chief Simon Stiell says Europe’s extreme weather is exposing the economic and security costs of climate change, while political divisions risk slowing action.
The UN climate chief on Thursday warned that political divisions and treating climate change as a partisan issue risk worsening both the environmental crisis and its economic toll on Europe.
Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), told the European Parliament that climate change had become a “continent-wide economic security emergency”, following unprecedented heatwaves across Europe this summer that caused deaths, infrastructure and power station damage, mass evacuations and disruption to trade routes.
He said the extreme conditions had also contributed to an estimated €180 billion in lost productivity and disruption to food, energy and transport, with further increases in food prices expected.
“Climate impacts like extreme heat are killing thousands, driving up costs, hitting economies and energy security. Inflation is a common enemy, security is a common cause. Both demand action on climate,” Stiell said.
The UN climate chief said the impacts were not confined to Europe, with countries in other parts of the world also experiencing floods and heat-driven power shortages.
He also said the climate crisis was increasingly contributing to forced migration both within countries and across borders.
Stiell stressed the need for international cooperation to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Even with current climate cooperation, he said, existing policies would result in global warming of 2.6 degrees Celsius, above the 1.5-degree Celsius limit outlined in the Paris Agreement.
He recommended that the European Union promote climate mitigation action at the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference, COP31, by concentrating on implementation of measures rather than reopening previous agreements.
Addressing climate change is considered one of the most urgent global issues as extreme weather events increase across various regions. The crisis has also highlighted global inequality, with countries that contribute the least to climate degradation, usually developing countries, bearing the greatest consequences.
The UN has previously reported that global food prices have risen due to recurrent heatwaves and other climate-related phenomena, with further increases expected.
Questions also remain over how certain technologies and industries are adapting to the climate emergency, including the development of artificial intelligence. On September 10, the UN warned that the use of AI data centres posed environmental threats while also exceeding the capacity of current electricity infrastructure.
