Global warming, climate change, all these things are just a dream come true for politicians. I deal with evidence and not with frightening computer models because the seeker after truth does not put his faith in any consensus. The road to the truth is long and hard, but this is the road we must follow. People who describe the unprecedented comfort and ease of modern life as a climate disaster, in my opinion have no idea what a real problem is.
Eighty kilometres from the Arctic Circle, Europe’s decarbonisation dream is falling apart.
Retirement funds face huge losses after being exposed to high-risk green projects
Eighty kilometres from the Arctic Circle, Europe’s decarbonisation dream is falling apart.
Icy towns in Sweden’s far north have found themselves at the centre of a “green rush” fuelled by promises of a new industrial frontier grounded in the clean energy revolution. The Telegraph has the story.
The Swedish government has channeled billions in pension fund savings into start-ups in the region – including the first steel mill to be built on the continent for half a century.
But after years of grandiose rhetoric, those promises appear to be disintegrating.
Two of the country’s flagship green manufacturers have run into serious financial difficulties, sparking a row over potentially eye-watering pension fund losses.
The challenges in Sweden serve as a stark warning to Rachel Reeves, the UK’s Chancellor, who is considering forcing large pension funds to invest in national assets in a bid to boost Britain’s struggling economy.
Industry leaders have warned that the move would put the Government’s objectives of the day ahead of the retirement prospects of millions of savers.
Funds exposed
Sweden helped pioneer the strategy of mobilising deep capital markets and pension funds to help finance government development goals. Unlike in Britain, a portion of Swedish workers’ state pension contributions are invested in government-controlled funds.
In the run up to the Paris Agreement, Stefan Löfven – the former Social Democrat prime minister who led a coalition government with the Greens – promised a “new green industrial revolution” that would be “as transformative as the one 250 years ago”.
The Heartland Institute’s Anthony Watts, Sterling Burnett, Linnea Lueken, Jim Lakely, and special guest Steve Milloy of JunkScience.com will also cover some of the Crazy Climate News of the Week: Greta Thunberg’s Sweden is backing away from its climate-fighting commitments (with other European countries soon to follow), global warming supposedly makes kids dumber, the carbon footprint of heart surgery is now a “big concern,” and the National Academy of Sciences is throwing a Hail Mary to save the Endangerment Finding for greenhouse gases.
The two most important members of the Trump administration reversing years of climate alarmism and junk science in public policy have been crushing it in media appearances. Alarmist outlets like CNN are on the defensive, left with little to say after EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and Energy Secretary Chris Wright finish with them. Never before have both public policy and public messaging been this coordinated and effective at pushing back against the alarmist narrative. We’ll break it all down.
The Heartland Institute’s Anthony Watts, Sterling Burnett, Linnea Lueken, Jim Lakely, and special guest Steve Milloy of JunkScience.com will also cover some of the Crazy Climate News of the Week: Greta Thunberg’s Sweden is backing away from its climate-fighting commitments (with other European countries soon to follow), global warming supposedly makes kids dumber, the carbon footprint of heart surgery is now a “big concern,” and the National Academy of Sciences is throwing a Hail Mary to save the Endangerment Finding for greenhouse gases.
This drama about the battery factory is entering the next round. The NDR reports on the closure of the main plant in Sweden.
There is bad news again from battery manufacturer Northvolt: According to the insolvency administrator, battery cell production in Skellefteå, Northvolt’s main plant in northern Sweden, will be shut down. It is to be completely discontinued by June 30 – if no buyer is found by then. This means that the company is completely discontinuing production in its home country. However, the search for a new investor is ongoing, it is said. In addition, there are potential buyers for the various business units within the Northvolt Group. “The talks and negotiations are ongoing and are at different stages,” said insolvency administrator Mikael Kubu in the statement
Surprisingly, the black-green state government in Schleswig-Holstein is still optimistic about the planned plant in Heide. Perhaps it has to be, given the sums for which the state and the federal government have guaranteed and already paid.
According to a spokesman for the German Northvolt subsidiary, the events in Sweden have no impact on the planned site in Heide (Dithmarschen district). Northvolt Germany is formally independent of Northvolt AB in Sweden and is therefore not affected by the insolvency proceedings for the time being. The search for investors is continuing, according to the spokesman. There is great interest in the location near Heide. Insolvency administrator Mikael Kubu in Sweden had not yet commented specifically on the German subsidiary.
Despite the insolvency of the Swedish parent company, construction continues at Heide. At the moment, it is more about the infrastructure on the construction site.
Many members of the state parliament from Schleswig-Holstein continue to see the opportunity for the location in Dithmarschen, despite the bad news from Sweden. “There will be an investor for this, I am very confident,” said Lasse Petersdotter (Greens) NDR Schleswig-Holstein. Lukas Kilian (CDU) spoke of Northvolt’s “silver cutlery”. “If you can sell something, then you have to look at this location and develop it further,” he said. “We have the green electricity, we have the good connections, we have the experts there.”
Kianusch Stender (SPD) expressed a similar opinion: “Over 100 hectares of leveled building land with a building permit that is already running. We have virtually everything we need. This is a prime piece for every investor.” Bernd Buchholz (FDP) was somewhat less euphoric: “In truth, the only chance for Heide is a strategic investor who is able to operate battery cell production itself.”
Minister of Economic Affairs Claus Ruhe Madsen also wants to stand up for Heide: “There are reports that say that we need up to 30 production facilities in Europe. And of course, we want to make sure that one of them is in Schleswig-Holstein,” he said.
How is all this supposed to work? Where has the money gone? How well was the test carried out in advance? Northvolt has practically no production and no more customers.
Go woke, go broke!
Following an exhaustive effort to explore all available means to secure a viable financial and operational future for the company, the Board of Directors of Northvolt AB today announced that it has filed for bankruptcy in Sweden.
Stockholm, Sweden, 12 March 2025 – Following an exhaustive effort to explore all available means to secure a viable financial and operational future for the company, the Board of Directors of Northvolt AB today announced that it has filed for bankruptcy in Sweden.
Like many companies in the battery sector, Northvolt has experienced a series of compounding challenges in recent months that eroded its financial position, including rising capital costs, geopolitical instability, subsequent supply chain disruptions, and shifts in market demand. Further to this backdrop, the company has faced significant internal challenges in its ramp-up of production, both in ways that were expected by engagement in what is a highly complex industry, and others which were unforeseen.
Despite pursuing all available options to negotiate and implement a financial restructuring, including a Chapter 11 restructuring process in the United States, and despite liquidity support from our lenders and key counterparties, the company was unable to secure the necessary financial conditions to continue in its current form. The Board therefore determined that this is the only available solution while the company pursues all realistic options to obtain financing to continue operating during the Swedish bankruptcy process.
It should be underscored that in engaging in this process, the company found significant traction with potential partners and interest from investors — something which illustrates the strong underlying value and future potential of Northvolt and is testament to its accomplishments. Ultimately, however, with limited time and financial resources available, the company was unable to conclude the necessary agreements to secure its future.
Following the filing, a Swedish court-appointed trustee will now oversee the process, including the sale of the business and its assets and settlement of outstanding obligations. The process will be conducted in accordance with Swedish insolvency law, with a focus on ensuring an orderly transition for employees, partners, and creditors. Northvolt has nominated Mikael Kubu as Trustee.
The entities Northvolt AB, Northvolt Ett AB, Northvolt Labs AB, Northvolt Revolt AB and Northvolt Systems AB filed with the Swedish court. Northvolt Germany and Northvolt North America are not filing for bankruptcy in their respective jurisdictions. As wholly owned subsidiaries of Northvolt AB, any decisions regarding these entities will be made by the court-appointed trustee of Northvolt AB in consultation with the Group’s lenders at the appropriate time.
Northvolt recognizes the significant impact of this outcome on its employees, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders. The company is working closely with relevant authorities, trade unions, and partners to ensure that employees receive the support and information they need during this transition.
“It is increasingly evident that common boreal tree species grew close to this summit in a climate, 2-3°C warmer than at present, during the Lateglacial and early Holocene periods 16 800- 6000 years ago.”
From about 16,800 to 6000 years ago warmth-dependent tree species grew 300-700 altitudinal meters higher than they do today on Mt. Åreskutanthan, Swedish Scandes.
Due to the well-known warmth threshold for boreal tree species and the lapse rate (0.6°C per 100 m), recovering birch, spruce, and pine megafossil remains at much higher elevations than today’s treeline altitudes affirms much warmer-than-today climates during the late last glacial and through the early Holocene, when CO2 ranged from 190 to 255 ppm.
“It is increasingly evident that common boreal tree species grew close to this summit in a climate, 2-3°C warmer than at present, during the Lateglacial and early Holocene periods 16 800- 6000 years ago.”
The scientists point out that such early dating for warmer-than-today climates has been viewed as controversial, as it is assumed the Earth had not sufficiently warmed or deglaciated until about 11,000 years ago, near the official starting timeline for the Holocene. But the carbon-dating of tree megafossils is regarded as a much more reliable data collection method than pollen analysis and terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide analysis, so these results are robust.
“Moreover, Mt. Åreskutan has been in the centre of a controversy concerning the date of deglaciation and late-glacial arboreal performance. Kullman (2000, 2002) presented robust megafossil data, showing unequivocal presence of mountain birch (Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii), spruce (Picea abies) and pine (Pinus sylvestris), as early as about 16 000 cal. a BP, close to the summit 300-400 m higher than present-day treelines.”
While there has been warming in this region recently, the warming is “within natural Holocene climate variability” and poses no threat to these landscapes. Instead, warming may enhance biodiversity in this region.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) promulgates a contrasting “alarmist and dystopic” viewpoint of warming as a “serious and imminent threat to man and planet Earth” as they simultaneously “downgrade natural climate history and rely more on immature and unvalidated numerical models.”
For good measure, another new Scandinavian study (Salonen et al., 2024) indicates today’s temperatures in northern Finland are among the coldest of the last 8000 years (see “Present-day value” dashed line). Much of the Holocene – as well nearly all of the last interglacial (LIG) – was 2 to 2.5°C warmer than present.
Two Swedish economists have issued a warning that the country’s wind-power industry is on the brink of a wave of bankruptcies.
Christian Sandström and Christian Steinbeck analysed wind-power companies’ annual reports in Sweden and their work revealed “significant financial problems”, they told Swedish media outlet Kvartal on February 28.
“The total loss for the years 2017–2022 amounted to 13.5 billion Swedish krona [€1.2 billion], which meant a loss margin of 39 per cent,” they said about the sector.
Such heavy losses seem to be the rule rather than the exception for wind-power companies in Sweden, according to the annual reports.
The Swedish Government has been pushing its national energy policies in a “green” direction, promoting wind power and decommissioning nuclear power plants. But the cost appears to be much more painful than previously thought, the economists stressed.
Vi befinner oss i början av en konkursvåg inom vindkraftsindustrin, skriver ekonomerna Christian Sandström och Christian Steinbeck. En analys av vindkraftsföretagens årsredovisningar påvisar betydande ekonomiska problem. https://t.co/KjWIhEsL08
Sandström and Steinbeck have been pointing towards profitability problems in the wind sector for some time “despite suppliers benefiting from Government support through electricity certificates and being exempt from covering the entire expenses associated with grid adaptation for wind energy or the depreciation of properties near installations”.
Since the economists’ initial findings, Markbygden Ett, Sweden’s largest wind-farm installation with 179 turbines, is already facing bankruptcy, stacking up hundreds of millions of krona in debt.
The firm is not alone – many other alternative-power companies in Sweden are in trouble.
The European Court of Auditors is sounding an alarm over the potential negative effects of building wind farms at sea. https://t.co/K9TVZRO3fP
Sandström and Steinbeck pointed out that the sector as a whole has not made a profit in any year since 2017.
Company losses have ranged from 19 per cent to 90 per cent of turnover between 2017 and 2022, they said.
“The losses are simply because the industry cannot produce electricity at a cost below the market price, despite extensive subsidies,” the economists noted.
“That would put any other industry out of business, [although] the rate of investment has been very high.”
Both newer and older plants in the heavily subsidised industry shed cash, while economies of scale are also a limitation. The biggest farms make the biggest losses and only moderate-sized wind farms, with between 20 and 30 turbines, are turning any profits and those are at best described as “modest”.
Costs have failed to come down despite growing experience among those operating in the sector and the researchers did not observe any correlation between time elapsed and increased electricity production from existing turbines.
“Just as sailors on sailing ships once had to pray to higher powers for wind to get somewhere, wind farms can only wait for the right amount of wind,” they added.
On top of that, just 20 per cent of wind turbines in Sweden are Swedish owned. The rest are operated by foreign enterprises. Some 13 per cent of the reviewed turbines are Chinese.
Sandström and Steinbeck said the Chinese investors made their calculations based on “wind mapping” carried out by the Swedish Energy Agency and they have doubts about the accuracy of the data.
Also hammering profits is the fact that large parts of the Swedish wind-power industry cannot transfer or save power over-generation, meaning electricity needs to be consumed instantly or not at all – making it effectively unsustainable.
A few wind farms in the South of the country have gained financial momentum in recent years but all the others are stacking up more losses.
The academics noted that the change in the Swedish energy mix – decommissioning nuclear plants in favour of wind power – was politically driven and that no robust, financial independent industry has subsequently emerged.
A peculiar paradox also haunts the sector, the economists stressed. Low levels of wind leads to high electricity prices yet it also hinders electricity delivery.
On the flip side, when the wind is more powerful, oversupply drives down prices when there is ample electricity for sale.
“It is difficult to see a way out of this dilemma,” Sandström and Steinbeck concluded.
An ancient German forest featured in the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm is being partially cut down in favour of 241-metre tall wind turbines. https://t.co/tByda88tQi
“It’s that magical time of year again,” says Chad Blakley, owner of the aurora tour guide service Lights over Lapland in Abisko, Sweden. “We just witnessed a spectacular display of polar stratospheric clouds.”
Dec. 17, 2023: (Spaceweather.com) A cold wave just swept through the Arctic stratosphere. Really cold. We know because on Dec. 17th these colorful clouds appeared over Sweden:
Above: A “PSC selfie” by Lights over Lapland driver Dimitrios Roukounakis
“It’s that magical time of year again,” says Chad Blakley, owner of the aurora tour guide service Lights over Lapland in Abisko, Sweden. “We just witnessed a spectacular display of polar stratospheric clouds.”
Widely considered to be the most beautiful clouds on Earth, polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) are rare. Earth’s stratosphere is very dry and normally it has no clouds at all. PSCs form when the temperature in the Arctic stratosphere drops to a staggeringly-low -85 C. Then, and only then, can widely-spaced water molecules begin to coalesce into tiny ice crystals. High-altitude sunlight shining through the crystals creates intense iridescent colors that can rival auroras.
NASA forecast models of the polar stratosphere show that temperatures have indeed dropped into the very low range required for colorful Type II PSCs:
Above: Note the temperature dip inside the highlighted yellow oval
During a typical Arctic winter, PSCs appear no more than a handful of times, and the first sightings usually come in January. The apparition on Dec. 17th marks an early start, and may herald many more PSCs to come. Stay tuned!
The Swedes, not to be outdone, have ditched their impossible to meet 100% renewable energy target (simply because it was premised on adding ever-increasing intermittent wind and solar capacity). Instead, Sweden has determined to build 10 large-scale nuclear plants, and looks set to lift a ban on uranium mining to allow it to access its own fuel supply, independent of Russia.
Nordics are renowned for their practical, common sense, which is why the likes of Sweden and Finland are backing nuclear power like their nations depend on it.
The Swedes, not to be outdone, have ditched their impossible to meet 100% renewable energy target (simply because it was premised on adding ever-increasing intermittent wind and solar capacity). Instead, Sweden has determined to build 10 large-scale nuclear plants, and looks set to lift a ban on uranium mining to allow it to access its own fuel supply, independent of Russia.
All sensible stuff, as the pieces below attest.
Sweden to lift parliamentary ban on uranium mining Mining Technology Florence Jones 21 August 2023
Sweden’s Climate Minister Romina Pourmokhtari has announced plans to lift the country’s ban on uranium mining and make way for greater nuclear energy capacity.
The Swedish Parliament has shown majority support for a lift on the ban, according to Pourmokhtari.
The government plans to build at least ten large reactors in the next 20 years to meet the demand for low-carbon energy. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told reporters in January that the government is “changing the legislation”, which will increase nuclear investment in the country.
Swedish ministers decided to phase out nuclear generation in 1980 and have historically taken an anti-nuclear stance. However, this policy was repealed in June 2010. Pourmokhtari is a public advocate of nuclear generation and says it should form a part of Sweden’s future energy mix.
“The government is aiming at doubling electricity production in 20 years,” Pourmokhtari told The Times this weekend.
“For our clean power system to function, a large part of this has to be dispatchable where nuclear power is the only non-fossil option. Nuclear power also has a reduced environmental footprint and requires limited resources in comparison with most energy sources.”
Uranium mining has become a point of concern for Europe’s nuclear industry as Russia dominates the processing of the fuel. Following the country’s invasion of Ukraine last year, the EU has sought to reduce its energy dependence on Moscow.
Kazakhstan, however, is by far the largest uranium miner. According to the World Nuclear Association, the country produced the largest share of mined uranium (43% of the global supply) in 2022, followed by Canada (15%) and Namibia (11%).
The European Parliament has been the site of heated debate over the role of nuclear generation in a net-zero future. France, which generates around 70% of its energy from nuclear sources, has been vocally pro-nuclear. Meanwhile, Germany, which has shut down its final three nuclear power stations this year, says that the fuel is not renewable.
Sweden accounts for 80% of the EU’s uranium deposits and already extracts uranium as a waste product when mining for other metals.
Several companies, including Australia’s Aura Energy and Canada’s District Metals, have already expressed interest in developing uranium sites in Sweden. Mining Technology
Sweden Goes Nuclear Powerline John Hinderaker 19 August 2023
Sweden is making a major move into nuclear energy:
Uranium mining is set to return to mainland Europe as the region seeks alternatives to Russian nuclear fuel and Sweden pushes to treble its atomic energy capacity, the country’s climate minister has said.
Sweden has lots of uranium:
Romina Pourmokhtari, who last year became the youngest cabinet minister in Swedish history at the age of 26, said there was a parliamentary majority behind lifting Sweden’s ban on uranium extraction and opening up by far the largest deposits in the European Union.
As we have been saying for a long time, if you are serious about considering carbon dioxide a threat (I’m not), then the only alternative is nuclear energy:
Nearly 40 years after the completion of the country’s last new nuclear power plant, Pourmokhtari has announced plans to build at least ten large reactors to meet an anticipated surge in demand for zero-carbon power. *** “The government is aiming at doubling electricity production in 20 years,” Pourmokhtari said. “For our clean power system to function, a large part of this has to be dispatchable [i.e., reliable] where nuclear power is the only non-fossil option. Nuclear power also has a reduced environmental footprint and requires limited resources in comparison with most energy sources.”
In recent years, Sweden has led the way on several issues. But why don’t environmentalists in the U.S. turn to nuclear power? Because their real aim is not to reduce CO2 emissions, it is to funnel trillions of dollars away from industries that generally don’t support the Democratic Party, toward industries–wind, solar, and utilities that put profit above their ratepayers’ interests–that do support the Democratic Party. Our mad drive toward “green” energy will impoverish the middle class, but that is OK, since the middle class doesn’t vote Democratic anyway. And people will die, but since when is that a concern?
Whether the American Left’s refusal to embrace nuclear energy is irrational depends on what you assume their objectives are. Powerline
A major rewriting of the science published on Wikipedia that is sceptical of the ‘settled’ climate narrative is being funded by a number of Governments from Scandinavia and the U.K. The operation is being directed by the green activist group, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), under a project titled ‘Improving communication of climate knowledge through Wikipedia’.
A major rewriting of the science published on Wikipedia that is sceptical of the ‘settled’ climate narrative is being funded by a number of Governments from Scandinavia and the U.K. The operation is being directed by the green activist group, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), under a project titled ‘Improving communication of climate knowledge through Wikipedia’.
The operation targets climate change pages that have significant daily page views. The SEI notes that Wikipedia articles usually appear at the top of internet search results, and the site plays a “key role” in helping promote climate change knowledge. “The improvement of the key articles making use of available scientific expertise is necessary,” it says.
The key word of course is “improvement” but, alas, a brief list of the “content experts” does not inspire confidence that rigorous dissemination of all climate science views will prevail. For instance, Kristie L. Ebi from the University of Washington has the curious notion that rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are “affecting the nutritional quality of our food”. Poor old CO2 you might feel. It gets a shocking press these days but few doubt its role as the gas of life, whose 60% reduction in the atmosphere would lead to the swift removal of all plant and life forms on Earth.
Elizabeth Gilmore of Carleton University, another of SEI’s “content experts”, runs a class on inspiring young eco-activists. She recently wrote that after Greta Thunberg “admonished” delegates at COP24, “it has become increasingly apparent that university students feel the brunt of multiple and interlinked existential crises of climate change, biodiversity, persistent inequality, inequity and economic precarity”.
The SEI project includes academics who have “scientific and climate change expertise”. In fact the ‘expertise’ seems to tend towards the burgeoning world of eco bureaucracy, consultancy and green activism. All the parties collaborate by revising and cutting text, proposing new content and adding new references. There is also interaction with published experts, “who advise us on necessary content edits”.
The Stockholm Environment Institute was founded in 1989 by the Swedish government to “support decision-making and induce changes towards sustainable development around the world”. It claims to provide this by supplying knowledge that bridges science and policy in the field of environmentalism and development. Its green activism is well supported by governments and many interested parties including Left-wing billionaire foundations. According to figures publicly revealed, it received over £11 million in 2020 from Swedish government interests, and £1.5 million from Norway. The British government even supplied £326,000 of funding it says in its 2022 report.
SEI is closely connected with the United Nations and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Its Chairman, appointed by the Swedish government, is Lennart Bage, the former Co-Chair of the U.N. Green Climate Fund (GCF) that aims to raise $100 billion a year to pay for green boondoggles in the developing world. Signing off his chairmanship of the GCF in 2019, Bage noted that “we have moved from millions to billions but we need to move to trillions”. Some of the content experts for the Wikipedia re-education programme come from the U.N., the IPCC and the Conference of the Parties (COP).
Recently, the U.N. Under-Secretary for Global Communications, Melissa Fleming, told delegates at a World Economic Forum ‘disinformation’ seminar that her organisation had partnered with Google to ensure only U.N.-approved climate search results appear at the top. In chilling tones, she explained: “We are becoming more proactive, we own the science and the world should know it.” In the context of this remark, the disclosure that a concerted attempt is being made to propagandise Wiki pages is unsurprising. Across all media, collectivist-minded operations funded by a wide variety of sources including governments, NGOs, foundations and wealthy individuals are rewriting the climate narrative with the help of mainstream media to suit a drive to Net Zero and economic and societal change. Advertising boycott campaigns face any individual media operation that steps out of line, academic careers are held back, fatuous ‘fact-check’ attacks are launched, school text books are rewritten and massive green scare campaigns are launched on an almost daily basis.
What is truly depressing is that the Conservative Party is often to be found at the front of the queue when it comes to handing out taxpayer cash to fund climate and woke campaigns. Providing money to alter Wiki pages is just the latest misuse of taxpayers’ hard earned money. In February, the Daily Sceptic reported that the British Foreign Office was helping to fund the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), which was circulating a ‘blocklist’ of conservative publications including the American Spectator and the New York Post.
As we noted at the time, one of the reasons the GDI posed such a threat to free speech was that its definition of ‘disinformation’ is unusually capacious. It doesn’t just mean information that is false and dissemination by people knowing it’s false. It has broadened the definition to include what it calls “adversarial narratives”.
Just weep for the death of science – “adversarial narratives” no longer required.
Chris Morrison is the Daily Sceptic’s Environment Editor.
That leaves over seven billion people living in nations that could not care less about emissions, including all nations with high birth rates and all nations that have a large percentage of people without reliable electricity.
In answer to the provocative question posed in an article of Issues and Insights, “Are We Finally Heading Toward ESG Sanity?”, Sweden and Shell Oil have recently initiated actions they deem beneficial for the health and well-being of the world’s eight billion residents.
The few wealthy countries transitioning to occasional electricity generation from breezes and sunshine has proven to be ultra-expensive for Germany, Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, all of the EU, and the USA. Those few wealthy countries represent about one billion of the world’s population.
That leaves over seven billion people living in nations that could not care less about emissions, including all nations with high birth rates and all nations that have a large percentage of people without reliable electricity.
The ruling class in wealthy countries is not cognizant that the planet populated from 1 to 8 billion, over the last 200 years. During that time, we learned through human ingenuity that crude oil is virtually useless, unless it’s manufactured (refineries) into oil derivatives that are the basis of more than 6,000 products in our daily lives that did not exist before the 1900s, and the fuels to move the heavy-weight and long-range needs of more than 50,000 aircraft moving people and products, and more than 50,000 merchant ships for global trade flows, and the military and space programs.
Of the three fossil fuels:
Coal is used for coal-fired power plants, and in furnaces to make steel.
Natural Gas is used for natural gas power plants, and for making fertilizers to help feed the world.
Crude oil is a fossil fuel that is useless until it can be manufactured at refineries into usable oil derivatives that make most of the products in the world, and the fuels for the various transportation infrastructures, militaries, and space programs.
Recognizing that ridding the world of oil, without a replacement in mind, would be immoral and evil, as extreme shortages of the products now manufactured from fossil fuels will result in billions of fatalities from diseases, malnutrition, and weather-related deaths, and could be the greatest threat to the world’s eight billion population.
Like Sweden, Shell is doubling down, away from wind turbines and solar panels, and into fossil fuels. Shell said it would expand its booming liquified natural gas businesswhilefocusing other investments on “low carbon” technologies, including biofuels, hydrogen, electric vehicle charging, and carbon capture and storage.
At the recent Indy 500 race, Shell was proud to power INDYCARS with 100 percent renewable fuel. With the debut of the new fuel developed by Shell, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES became the first United States-based motorsports series to power racing with 100 percent renewable race fuel that enables at least 60 percent greenhouse gas emissions reduction compared to fossil-based gasoline. Working together with INDYCAR engine suppliers Chevrolet and Honda, the Shell 100 percent Renewable Race Fuel can meet the demands of a race weekend without any changes in performance.
Despite the urgency propelled by the World Economic Forum (WEF), the United Nations, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Paris Climate Agreement, the World Bank, and the Biden administration, both Sweden’s Parliament and Shell are demonstrating that stability and efficiency must come before ideology.
Today, there is an extremely dangerous precedent being set by bank boardroom decisions that can set energy policies with their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) scorecard system before investing in energy infrastructure. Those boardroom decisions are allowing the investment community to collude to reshape economies and lifestyles so that they are in line with the social and political cause preferences of banks and other financial institutions.
Unstable and inefficient technologies, particularly wind and solar power, have been endorsed and implemented with the noble goal of achieving, using exotic minerals and metals, one hundred percent renewable electricity from intermittent breezes and sunshine.
The sourcing of raw materials is an important consideration for renewable alternative electricity companies. Due to the limited worldwide supply of critical components used in many renewable goods and processes, such as rare earth minerals and those used in electrical components, mineral resources disclosures around this topic can create transparency in supply chain management by covering the management of risks associated with the use of critical materials, and more specifically, the environmental risks associated with their supply chain. Furthermore, human rights considerations around the production of sourced materials can be identified for disclosure. Such factors can cover materials sourced from workforces where forced labor or unsafe or harsh working conditions are employed.
The 2022 Pulitzer Prize-nominated book “Clean Energy Exploitations”, provides transparency to the environmental degradation and humanity atrocities occurring in developing countries mining for those exotic minerals and metals to support the “green” movement. Subsidies to purchase EVs are financial incentives encouraging further exploitation of yellow, brown, and black skin residents in developing countries.
An easy observation in our society is that everything that needs electricity, starting with the basic light bulb, is made with oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil, including all electronics, all medical supplies, and all communications.
Ridding the world of oil, without a replacement in mind, is immoral and evil, as extreme shortages will result in billions of fatalities from diseases, malnutrition, and weather-related deaths.
In economic terms, the wealthier countries’ climate hysteria is imposing severe negative externalities on developing countries. Ethically, the West’s climate obsession is immorally condemning present generations of impoverished peoples and nations to continued perjury and early deaths in the years ahead. Make no mistake, and this ruse exists to enrich people in developed countries further while they simultaneously exploit those in developing countries.
Congratulations to Sweden and Shell for doing what’s best for the health and well-being of the world’s eight billion residents.
Author
Ronald SteinRonald Stein is an engineer, senior policy advisor on energy literacy for CFACT, and co-author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book “Clean Energy Exploitations.”
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