UN WMO Head: “From climate perspective, the war in Ukraine may be seen as a blessing”

Essay by Eric Worrall

h/t Dr. Willie Soon; United Nations World Meteorological Organization head Petteri Taalas seeing the climate change benefits of war in Europe.

Weather chief: Ukraine war may be ‘blessing’ for climate

By JAMEY KEATEN

GENEVA (AP) — The head of the U.N. weather agency says the war in Ukraine “may be seen as a blessing” from a climate perspective because it is accelerating the development of and investment in green energies over the longer term — even though fossil fuels are being used at a time of high demand now.

The comments from Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, came as the world is facing a shortfall in energy needs — prompted in part by economic sanctions against key oil and natural gas producer Russia — and prices for fossil fuels have risen.

That has led some countries to turn quickly to alternatives like coal. But rising prices for carbon-spewing fuels like oil, gas and coal have also made higher-priced renewable energies like solar, wind and hydrothermal more competitive in the energy marketplace.

…

“From the five- to 10-year timescale, it’s clear that this war in Ukraine will speed up our consumption of fossil energy, and it’s speeding up this green transition,” Taalas said.

“So we are going to invest much more in renewable energy, energy-saving solutions,” and some small-scale nuclear reactors are likely to come online by 2030 as “part of the solution,” he said.

“So from climate perspective, the war in Ukraine may be seen as a blessing,” Taalas added.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-business-united-nations-weather-ece2a951b35fe8be9a7090cd93b3a0ac

From a “climate perspective”, there’s no end to the “benefits” war can bring. I mean, why don’t we take it further, and consider the possibility that if the Ukraine war escalates into a all out global nuclear exchange.

A post nuclear apocalypse world would experience a range of climate benefits. Fossil fuel consumption would plummet, because most of the consumers would be dead, and the wrecked infrastructure would be incapable of sustaining substantial amounts of fossil fuel for consumption. There would even be a geo-engineering benefit. Ash from the nuclear blasts driven into the stratosphere would form a cooling blanket around the Earth, reflecting some of the sunlight straight back into space before it has a chance to warm the planet.

Personally I prefer to see things from the “human perspective”, in which the Ukraine war is a horrible tragedy which is leading to the needless deaths of 10s of thousands of people caught up in the conflict, or civilians murdered by missile strikes against homes, shopping centres, hospitals and schools. The “human perspective” in which people who make grossly misanthropic comments about how good the war is probably aren’t suitable for jobs which involve public relations. But maybe that’s just me.