Petteri Taalas said that the war in Ukraine “may be seen as a blessing” because it has accelerated the investment and development of “green” energy sources over the long term. 

Petteri Taalas is the secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, which is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics.

The World Meteorological Organization website says it is “a specialized agency of the United Nations, WMO is dedicated to international cooperation and coordination on the state and behaviour of the Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with the land and oceans, the weather and climate it produces, and the resulting distribution of water resources.” 

Currently,  Europe is running out of energy sources and is facing an energy crisis in part due to the war in Ukraine and self-inflicted policy decisions prior to the war. 

In speaking about this, Taalas said that the war has been a shock to “the European energy sector,”.

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

“So we are going to invest much more in renewable energy, energy saving solutions,”.

Taalas believes that “from a climate perspective, the war in Ukraine may be seen as a blessing,” for Europe. He says there needs to be a “complete transformation” of the global energy system.