Glasgow’s Climate of Unreality The latest climate confab achieved little, which is for the best.
The latest global climate confab ended on the weekend in Glasgow having produced little of consequence. How could it have done otherwise? The conferees who warn that the Apocalypse is nigh absent draconian energy policies are disconnected from political and economic reality.
The climateers couldn’t agree whether they had failed to forestall climate catastrophe or set the world on a new path to banning fossil fuels. The apocalyptics were gloomy that countries failed to make more firm commitments to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions, and failed even to agree to phase out coal after a last-minute intervention by India and China. Perhaps those nations noticed that even Europe is having to fall back on more coal power these days amid an energy crisis and rising prices.
U.S. envoy John Kerry was more optimistic, as usual. You have to admire his ability to spin the media that “United States reclaims leadership role,” as the Washington Post headlined it. He cited a statement by the U.S. and China that they will work together to reduce emissions.
Mr. Kerry could hardly admit failure. The international commands from Glasgow are supposed to justify President Biden’s agenda to regulate and tax U.S. oil and gas production out of business, while spending $550 billion in green-energy subsidies.
In the real world, China will continue to build more coal plants, though it said it will begin to reduce emissions before its previous promise of 2030. That’s the same year that Mr. Biden wants the U.S. to have reduced its emissions by half, no matter the cost. The Chinese know they can exploit America’s climate obsessions by making promises they may or may not keep in return for U.S. concessions on economics or national security. They also don’t mind if the U.S. punishes itself with higher energy costs, which will be the main consequence of the Biden climate agenda.
Also in the real world, it isn’t clear that even Western leaders can deliver on their anti-carbon pledges. Inflation caused in part by spiking energy prices is hurting Mr. Biden and the Democrats, who have been left begging the Saudis and Russians to drill more oil so prices fall. You can hear them laughing in the Kremlin.
“If [Mr. Biden] were asking them to boost their production over five years, I’d quit,” Mr. Kerry told reporters, by way of trying to square this circle. “But he’s not. He’s asking them to boost production in this immediate moment.” Lord, make us green, but not yet.
The climate elites want the public to believe that only by turning over more of the economy to their political control can we avoid climate disaster. And by the way, the public will pay for this in higher energy costs and shortages as we leap toward the green Neverland. Whenever Western voters are honestly presented with this choice, they say no.
That’s why Western climateers want to use the quiet coercion of financial regulations to allocate capital and squeeze fossil-fuel producers. This will do some harm, but it won’t matter at all to global temperatures.
For that matter, neither will anything else that happened in Glasgow. What will matter is research in new technology, adaptation to cope with the uncertain effects of a changing climate, and whether or not the world grows wealthier to better cope with that uncertain future.
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