UN brief on the Global Impact of war in Ukraine on food, energy, and finance systems

The Global Crisis Response Group (GCRG) issued a brief entitled Global Impact of war in Ukraine on food, energy, and finance systems. According to the new findings of the GCRG, the war in Ukraine is setting in motion a three-dimensional crisis - on food, energy, and finance - that is producing alarming cascading effects on the world economy already battered by COVID-19 and climate change. Preliminary analysis suggests that as many as 1.7 billion people in 107 economies are exposed to at least one of three risks, mostly in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. When combined with the already devastating impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and climate change, the exposure to just one risk is dire enough to cause debt distress, food shortages, and blackouts.

The brief proposes a series of immediate to longer-term recommendations to avert and respond to the triple crisis, including the need to keep markets and trade open to ensure the availability of food, and agricultural inputs such as fertilizer and energy. It also calls for international financial institutions to urgently release funding for the most at-risk countries while making sure there are enough resources to build long-term resilience to such shocks.

On food, the brief urges the prompt provision of funds for humanitarian food assistance. On energy, it calls on the need to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy, which is not impacted by market fluctuations, to phase-out coal and all other fossil fuels. On finance, the brief asks the international financial system, including G20 countries and development banks, to provide urgent, flexible, and sufficient funding for particularly least developed countries.

Established by the Secretary-General, the GCRG aims to develop coordinated solutions to the interlinked crises in collaboration with governments, the multilateral system, and sectors. The Steering Committee of the GCRG is led by UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed.

The full brief is available here.

Last update

31/5/2022