Ukraine war threatens global heating goals, warns UN chief

‘Short-term measures might create long-term fossil fuel dependence and close the window to 1.5C,’ says António Guterres, the UN secretary general. Photograph: Czarek Sokołowski/AP

The war in Ukraine risks putting global targets on the climate out of reach, the UN secretary general has warned, if countries respond to Russia’s aggression by increasing their use of fossil fuels.

António Guterres said the aim of limiting global temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, the goal set out at the Cop26 UN climate summit last year, was in peril as countries sought alternatives to Russian oil and gas supplies.