Spare a thought this morning for Justin Rowlatt of the BBC as he sits down for breakfast in Baku wondering how he will spin the looming disaster of the now Trump-wrecked COP29, which begins today. In happier days, the thought of wasting billions of dollars on free handouts, or climate reparations, as they are laughably called, would have warmed his heart. In happier days, western governments could pretend to be saving the planet by rebadging foreign aid for so-called climate projects. Few seemed to take their climate obligations more seriously than the Belgians who funded a romantic film about a green activist and a rugby-playing logger set in a rainforest. Sadly, to date, your correspondent has been unable to catch this eco-classic when the tree hugger met the hunk with the big log. The Belgians justified the movie as ‘climate finance’ because it “touches on deforestation”.
The latest COP in Azerbaijan is all about money – a massive annual trillion dollar heist planned by global elites as a transfer from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. But Trump’s election has blown these plans out of the water. America’s commitment to the Paris agreement, crucial to much of this funding, will soon be ditched by Trump along with green boondoggles of every variety. Can Rowlatt and co. step up to the plate and put the best possible face on the new reality? Rarely can a BBC correspondent have faced a more difficult assignment.
David Wojick of CFACT is not sanguine about the prospects of the useful idiots covering the conference for mainstream media. “That people take this nonsense seriously speaks volumes about the unreality of the UN climate programme. But it will be great fun to watch them hit the NO WAY wall,” he says.
If all goes well at COP 29, the Italians will no longer have to save the planet one ice cream at a time. Part of their past climate aid helped an Italian retailer to open a chain of chocolate and gelato stores across Asia. This formed part of the agreement reached in Paris in 2015 that pledged $100 billion a year for climate action in the developing world. In fact, a recent survey by Reuters and Big Local News at Stanford University found that billions of dollars had been spent building new coal- and gas-fired power stations, along with airport and hotel developments. Japan is said to have provided at least $776.3 million to finance three airports including the Borg El Arab development in Egypt. The pragmatic Egyptian climate minister Mohamed Nasr noted that “people have to fly”.
The two largest climate finance contributors to date are the USA and Japan. The researchers found that Japan grants itself a great deal of latitude when it comes to defining climate finance. It provided $2.4 billion to help fund the Matarbari ultra supercritical coal-fired power station in Bangladesh. Apparently, Japan considers Matarbari a project worthy of its climate backing because it uses Japanese technology to generate more energy with less coal. If worrying about carbon dioxide is your thing, you will not be pleased to learn that according to the researchers Matarbari will produce more emissions than the entire city of San Francisco in 2019.
Desperation at the BBC is evident in pre-COP copy with arch eco-activists Matt McGrath and Georgina Rannard stating that world leaders are “hoping to rein in rising temperatures which are making deadly events like the recent floods in Spain far worse”. Note the lack of the usual ‘scientists say’ qualification to make a statement for which there is scant scientific evidence. Desperate times calls for desperate editorial measures. The luxury belief that humans control a chaotic, non-linear atmosphere and can somehow “rein in” temperatures around the world, is a political message that backs the increasingly absurd climate emergency and its death cult Net Zero solution.
Of course, a lot of silly people who claim that you can take hydrocarbons out of a modern industrial economy have gathered in Baku. There are few sillier than mad Ed Miliband, who is rushing headlong into ‘decarbonising’ the U.K.’s electricity grid within the next 60 months. He has been told that there is no reliable back up for intermittent breezes and beams except a full fleet of gas-fired power stations. Since Miliband is also banning new oil and gas exploration, he might care for a meeting with Elnur Soltanov, the Chief Executive of Azerbaijan’s COP team.
We are obliged to J. Rowlatt for reporting that Soltanov is taking the opportunity to promote the country’s burgeoning oil and gas business. It is after all essential to have some access to hydrocarbons if you are too virtuous to drill for them yourself. Or the Mad One might bump into forward planners from the Trump team. There will be plenty of gas available across the pond in the next four years with the incoming President promising to “drill baby drill”. The price may be a little higher than any domestic supply since it needs to be compressed and transported. Since the U.K. will be dealing at the top with a capitalist deal maker President, the price will need to reflect all these costs, and possibly a small premium to help assuage the seller’s conscience of having the customer over a barrel.
One can hardly blame the representatives of developing countries turning up at Baku and asking for free money for bad weather. The island states will be there in force claiming rising sea levels will sweep away their coral and sand bank homes. Again, substantial handouts will help assuage consciences. It must be hard to keep telling these fibs to halfwitted journalists and politicians when all the scientific evidence suggests that most tropical islands in the Pacific are growing by natural accretion. But no doubt the cash will be put to good use building more money-spinning beach resorts.
But there is a more serious and darker side to the climate giving game – the suggestion that it’s a form of climate colonialism. In a recent essay in Watt Up With That?, Charles Rotter noted that global financial institutions and wealthy nations dictate energy policy that prioritises carbon reduction over human development. Across Africa, electricity blackouts are common. The region’s most populous country, Nigeria, is repeatedly plunged into darkness. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have curtailed funding for oil and gas projects, while the European Investment Bank has banned support for hydrocarbon projects. Hopefully, help in providing reliable energy to developing countries for electricity, clean water and sanitation may be on its way from the U.S. Under pressure from the Biden administration, American development agencies are reported to have halted backing for overseas hydrocarbon projects. This is likely to change. As Rotter notes, forcing developing nations to rely on unreliable and expensive renewables means that wealthier countries maintain their industrial advantage.
Such sentiments about the underlying wickedness of COP will no doubt have Rowlatt choking over his organic oatmeal.
Chris Morrison is the Daily Sceptic’s Environment Editor.
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‘help in providing reliable energy to developing countries for electricity, clean water’
All of which were to be found in abundance in South Africa until Thabo Mbeki became President in 2007.
‘Mbeki pretty much ran the show from 1994′
Corruption was little noticed at first but in time spread through the system, infecting the government and its party, and ultimately bringing down the president.
Aid to Africa is very much part of the problem, not the solution…..as the Chinese are, by now, starting to find out.
Things in South Africa are now starting to get better. Why?
‘…load-shedding played a role in the disastrous election result in May for the African National Congress (ANC) when it saw its vote share fall below 50% for the first time.’
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4ng1ygxzddo
Oh! What just happened in the good ol’ U.S. of A.?
Let us hope that means that nut zero’s days are numbered.
I heard white engineers and technicians were brought out of retirement to fix the power stations, replacing ANC placemen who knew nothing about power generation but were the right colour and political adherance.
I do hope Trump turns up in Parliament in the not too distant future and the assembled hordes of scientifically-illiterate, lefty idiots (both Houses) are forced to listen to a lecture about the nonsense that is Net Zero …. and clap politely at the end of it.
The same goes for His Hypocritical Majesty of Windsor …. but unfortunately I think Trump is too polite and too enamoured of the Royal Family to be blunt to Charlie-Boy.
Speaking of the Royals and how GB News are sycophants of them, it was refreshing to hear Lewis Schaffer on Headliners say something along the lines of….”Why should I have to join in the celebration of this WEF Globalist”….At last, some criticism and truth about the Royals who are nothing but self-serving parasites, mentioned on GBN.
Lewis Schaffer’s assessment of the King and others, is well made.
Has there ever been a more important case of “JUST IN TIME”? ——Just as the latest phony planet saving money skimming fraud conference is about to get underway, the country with all the wealth elects probably the only person as President that is not prepared to fall for the total scam. Here is the US Secretary of State Press Conference from November 2019————————–
“President Trump made the decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement because of the unfair economic burden imposed on American workers, businesses, and taxpayers by U.S. pledges made under the Agreement. The United States has reduced all types of emissions, even as we grow our economy and ensure our citizens’ access to affordable energy. Our results speak for themselves: U.S. emissions of criteria air pollutants that impact human health and the environment declined by 74% between 1970 and 2018. U.S. net greenhouse gas emissions dropped 13% from 2005-2017, even as our economy grew over 19 percent. The U.S. approach incorporates the reality of the global energy mix and uses all energy sources and technologies cleanly and efficiently, including fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and renewable energy. In international climate discussions, we will continue to offer a realistic and pragmatic model – backed by a record of real-world results – showing innovation and open markets lead to greater prosperity, fewer emissions, and more secure sources of energy. We will continue to work with our global partners to enhance resilience to the impacts of climate change and prepare for and respond to natural disasters. Just as we have in the past, the United States will continue to research, innovate, and grow our economy while reducing emissions and extending a helping hand to our friends and partners around the globe”
I posted this statement as it appears in the book by John Chizmadia called CLIMATE SCAM.
The same applies today where countries will gather to try and skim money from the richest countries all under the false pretences of a climate emergency
Americans should thank their lucky stars they voted how they did because this scam is now dead in the water. But despite that Miliband will be over there right to the bitter end trying to give our money away.
Given that he wants to quadruple his department’s budget one might have thought he would want to limit how much we give away to tin-pot dictators.
Its Depopulation baby, dressed up as virtue by our elite betters.
Spot on.
Maurice Strong, Christiana Figueres and Otmar Edenhoffer, the big cheeses of the UNEP and IPCC have been admitting for decades that the Climate Scam has little to do with the Environment.
The object is to destroy the economy of the “West”. And to depopulate.
Getting rid of “Useless Eaters.”
The cartoon might have included indications of hot air blowing around.
So with China, India, the USA and Russia ignoring Carbon Zero, what difference does the UKs measly 1% make?
Trump’s victory is the death of this eco lunacy.
Difference to what?
Difference to actual CO2 levels? Probably about 1% of the man-released CO2 in the world.
Difference to ‘The’ Climate (which one)? None. Nothing. Net Zero.
He only has 4 years. I hope you’re right.
Total Co2 in the earth’s atmosphere: 0.04%
Out of that, man made Co2 acounts for 0.0038%
Out of that Britain accounts for 1% of the 0.0038% which equals 0.000038% of the deadly poisonous gas (plant food) spewing from our filthy industries
But Ed Milibrain is going to solve this immense problem using our money!
Cop29 = lots of ticks infesting a dog and arguing about which one of them owns the dog.. and the biggest tick hasn’t even turned up!
So the obvious solution is to shut down our filthy industries and pay for that using the money from our world-class ind… oops.
Yes – I’ve noticed that since Rowlatt has twice got his backside smacked for saying things that demonstrably weren’t true, he’s taken to prefacing every report with the words – “Scientists say…” I believe this is a blunt tactic to protect against future complaints to the BBC about the accuracy of his reports and conclusions. In other words “It’s not me saying it, it’s SCIENTISTS!”
What he doesn’t say is that it’s “some” scientists with captured interests in green ideology. He doesn’t go on to say that many other “scientists” think he’s talking hogwash. But he did tell us that the first and biggest item under discussion was how many billions, or even trillions, rich countries would be paying poor countries. Of course, recent extreme weather events got a mention because, in his world, that’s proof of climate change – or so scientists say.
But this is the problem the BBC have caused themselves and us. A Nicky Campbell phone-in last week about climate change was prefaced by Campbell telling us that this wasn’t an opportunity to discuss the science. He told us that the scientific consensus is settled. As a result, opposing views or climate sceptical voices can never be heard on the BBC’s airwaves.
And it seems the OFF-COMMUNISTS agree with him.
I read elsewhere that attendee numbers are down by around 50%.
The movement of power eastwards means that we won’t have that luxury. We are the lucky ones who always know how to screw someone over if we need to. Most will be left in the dark looking around and hoping for a way out. Will you help these people? You are perfectly entitled to say no given that they wanted to put you in concentration camps for refusing the injection. And lets face it do you really want to live in a world with such people in it?
Great article Chris. One of your best! Thanks.
I hope you enjoyed writing this as much as I enjoyed reading it. The irony of this being held in Baku, with oil sloshing about the place and all the evidence of its enrichment of the host country.
Rowlatt is an environmental campaigner who happens to be employed as a climate ‘journalist’ by the BBC.