The United Nations warns the rush to fossil fuels as a result of the war in Ukraine is not the answer, with fears this could threaten our current work towards climate targets

Putin’s invasion of Russia’s neighbour has seen a dramatic rise in the prices of coal, oil and gas. Countries are working quickly to find Russian replacements.

But the U.N. Secretary General says short-term fixes could “close the window” on the Paris climate goals and have devastating impacts on our environment.

He is also calling on major nations like China to fully phase out coal by 2040.

These comments mark the first major speech the Secretary General has delivered on the state of our climate since the conclusion of COP-26 in Glasgow.

Scientists warn we must keep global temperatures under 1.5C this century to limit the scale of damage from global warming.

UNLOCKING RENEWABLES: COULD GRAVITY SOLVE THE SECTOR’S MAJOR PROBLEM?

Is gravity the key to unlocking one of the world’s biggest renewable energy problems? One startup thinks so.

Energy Vault is an American-Swiss company that has designed and constructed a 70-metre crane with six arms lifting huge blocks to the sky.

As an energy storage system, the machine relies on gravity and 35-ton bricks to store and release power.

When power demand is low, the crane uses excess energy to lift the bricks and stack them and then releases the bricks when power demand increases, generating kinetic energy.

One of the biggest problems facing current renewables, like wind and solar, is that they are heavily reliant on weather conditions like the wind and sun.

AND this is where Energy Vault’s brainchild comes into play as it can generate power 24/7.