A BOOM in natural gas production, triggered by sanctions against Russian oil, is undermining already insufficient efforts by nations to limit future global warming levels, a report revealed today.

Plans to increase liquidised and other natural gas output to counter the energy crisis would add two billion tons of carbon dioxide a year to the air by 2030, according to the report released by Climate Action Tracker at the Cop27 climate conference in Egypt.

It equates to enough greenhouse gas to “hinder, if not catastrophically hinder, chances of achieving 1.5°C degrees,” the level to which global warming must be limited to avoid the worst effects, according to the report.

The world has already warmed by 1.1 to 1.2°C since pre-industrial times, leaving little room to keep below the limit set in Paris in 2015.

If all the gas production plans go through, they would produce five times the amount needed to replace the intake from Russia, the report calculates.

“This reaction to the energy crisis is an overreach that must be scaled back,” it says.

Climate Action Tracker said that since last year’s climate talks, there had been only a little progress in pledges and action to reduce carbon emissions.

International Committee of the Red Cross director-general Robert Mardini called on world leaders and negotiators at the United Nations climate summit to pay greater attention and mobilise funds for conflict-stricken nations, which are the most vulnerable to climate change.

He said that people in places such as Yemen and the Horn of Africa region face a “double challenge, double adversity, double risks.

“[We are here] to make the case that climate action and climate finance should go to those communities,” he said.