Global Impact of War in Ukraine on Food, Energy and Finance Systems

On 14 March 2022, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced the establishment of a Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance (GCRG) to coordinate the global response to the widespread impacts of the war in Ukraine. The GCRG will ensure high-level political leadership to get ahead of the immense inter-connected challenges of food security, energy and financing, and put in place a coordinated global response to the ongoing crises. This brief is the result of the coordinated work of the Global Crisis Response Task Team, reporting to the Steering Committee of the GCRG. It 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, 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.