Simon Stiell, the United Nations' top climate official, has called for a rapid transition to renewable energy.
Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said on Monday at the opening of a 10-day climate conference in the German city of Bonn: "The war in the Middle East has caused immense human suffering and ignited a fuel price crisis that is strangling economies everywhere. It is crystal clear. Continued dependence on fossil fuels means continued importation of inflation and economic disruption."
He noted that tackling the global climate crisis is the most difficult task, but also the most important task humanity has ever undertaken.
Around 6,500 delegates from government officials, the scientific community, the business sector, and civil society — representing nearly all UN member states — are participating in the Bonn Climate Conference.
The conference aims to prepare for the UN Climate Change Summit, to be held later this year in the Turkish city of Antalya.
The German government has confirmed that the Bonn conference is the largest regular UN conference held in Germany.