How the Ukraine war could spell the end of fossil fuels
In this edition, the war spurred an energy crisis but it may also have sped up a global green energy transition.
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THE STORY
If there has been one fallout of the war in Ukraine that nearly every country across the globe has experienced, and nearly every country has discussed, it is the spike in energy prices. So widespread and adverse has the impact been that the rise in energy costs accounts for the food production crisis, the cost-of-living crisis, worldwide supply chain wrangles and a global economic slowdown.
At the COP27 climate conference in Egypt in November 2022, European delegates spoke urgently about the Kremlin’s “use of energy as a weapon of mass destabilization.” Exploring and exploiting relatively new fossil fuel reserves in Africa appeared to be at the top of the European Union’s agenda, with most of the projects in African countries geared toward export and funded by multinational companies.