{"id":293024,"date":"2023-12-29T17:09:51","date_gmt":"2023-12-29T16:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=293024"},"modified":"2023-12-29T17:09:54","modified_gmt":"2023-12-29T16:09:54","slug":"was-cop-28-climate-imperialisms-last-gasp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=293024","title":{"rendered":"Was COP 28 climate imperialism\u2019s last gasp?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Duggan Flanakin<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The horde has left Dubai, many in their private jets. Next stop in the champagne and caviar COPcon is Baku, Azerbaijan, which, at 92 feet below sea level, seems an appropriate place<\/a> to bury Net Zero. The award came on the heels of an historic agreement between Azerbaijan and next-door Armenia, which both nations hope will bring peace to intertwined peoples with a long history of deadly strife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Azerbaijan, a mostly Muslim nation of 10 million people, straddles Europe and Asia. It relies heavily on oil and gas production, which accounts for nearly half the nation\u2019s GDP and nearly 93 percent of its export revenue. Baku has been an oil center since 1837<\/a>when tsarist Russians built the first oil-distilling factory nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to the 1905 Russian revolution, Baku produced half<\/a> the world\u2019s oil sold in international markets. During World War II, Baku supplied 80 percent of the oil for Russia\u2019s eastern front. The nation has rebuilt and expanded its infrastructure since liberation from Soviet rule in 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while the new Azerbaijani government rebuilt synagogues, it also, in 1990, began a pogrom to expel resident Armenians. Despite this and the recent conquest of ethnic Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh region west of Baku, Azerbaijan won the right to host COP 29 when Armenia dropped its bid and supported Baku. The defeated quasi-independent Nagorno-Karabakh government agreed to dissolve<\/a> as of January 1, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the imperialists in Brussels and other European capitals continue to plot their abandonment of the fuels that supply 82 percent of the world\u2019s electricity \u2013 a move that would destroy the Azerbaijani economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A dozen countries led by the Netherlands have announced crackdowns on what the EU calls \u201cinefficient fossil fuel subsidies.\u201d Canada\u2019s climate minister, Steven Guilbeault, says harming oil companies \u201censures that spending is aligned with climate ambition<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, such planners have not gotten the memo. Or they choose to ignore the wisdom of the Global South (and China, too, for that matter).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Brendan O\u2019Neill so brilliantly pointed out, \u201cAfrican diplomats said at COP 28 that \u2018the idea of a fossil-fuel phaseout [is] unworkable.\u2019\u201d Moreover, he added, \u201cIndia, China, Brazil, and other nations are not prepared to sacrifice their economic health at the altar of our deranged anti-modernism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Neill also hits on the real story of COP 28 \u2013 that, for perhaps the first time in 28 tries, the clash between Western ideologues \u201cwho are exhausted with the modern world\u201d and developing nations \u201cwho want in on the modern world\u201d was out in the open for the world to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Developing nations spokespeople tended to agree. Nigeria\u2019s environment minister,<\/a> Ishaq Salako, expressed astonishment at the rhetoric of John Kerry, Al Gore, and others, saying, \u201cAsking Nigeria, or indeed, asking Africa, to phase out fossil fuels is like asking us to stop breathing without life support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The G77 coalition of 135 developing nations also made it clear that its members will not stop using coal (and oil and gas, as well), which they see as vital to ensuring what a spokesperson called \u201ca dignified life for our people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenyan agricultural engineer Jusper Machogu<\/a> told the COP 28 delegates, \u201cwe want to flourish, we want to replace the 90 percent of Africa\u2019s energy that comes from burning firewood, cow dung, and crop residue. We want to have the four pillars<\/strong> of modern civilization: cement, steel, plastics, and synthetic fertilizers, all available thanks to fossil fuels.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 500 years of exploiting Africa\u2019s resources and doing little, if anything, to bring prosperity or even electricity to Africa\u2019s billions, the West now seeks to bully Africans into abandoning a major source of continental wealth \u2013 and drive them deeper into debt to install ineffective wind farms and solar arrays. Only Africa (and a few other scattered poor nations) would suffer, as China and India have long since told their would-be superiors to pound sand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Institute for Energy Research notes that while nations \u201cofficially\u201d agreed to reduce global fossil fuel consumption, oil, gas, and coal still account for about 80 percent of the world\u2019s energy, with production of each hitting new records<\/a> as world energy demand grows. Even the stodgy British, who proudly abandoned coal years ago, approved a new coal mine shortly after realizing the Russian oil might not be so readily available as an alternative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post-pandemic global interest rates, spiked by massive \u201cNet Zero\u201d spending by the Biden Administration and European governments, are adding to the already unaffordable costs of building new renewable energy projects. Cost, along with citizen outrage, is making it increasingly difficult to build new wind farms and solar arrays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UN admits that developing countries would need nearly six trillion dollars over the next few years to give up fossil fuels and try to power entire nations on intermittent energy sources \u2013 all of which would depend on either debt to mostly European banks or heavy strings attached to government-to-government loans or grants. Yet prior promises<\/a> of $100 billion have yet to materialize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Maybe developing nations also see how Ukraine\u2019s abandonment of its nuclear arsenal left that country vulnerable to Russian aggression.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing backlash in Europe adds to the suspicion that Africans would never see the promised \u201caid.\u201d At the recent EU leaders\u2019 summit in Brussels, European Council President Charles Michel proposed cutting<\/a> nearly all of a 10 billion euro fund earmarked for helping European nations build renewable energy projects (wind turbines, hydrogen plants, carbon capture) \u2013 a timid enough response to the profligate trillion-dollar boondoggles of the Biden Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The simple truth is that not even the West has enough money to spare to disengage from the engine that fueled the Industrial Revolution. Matt Ridley cites a Climate Change Economics<\/em> article that admits<\/a> that achieving Net Zero by 2050 would save about a trillion dollars a year in avoided costs of climate change \u2013 at a cost of $10 to $43 trillion a year just to get there. Simply put, every dollar invested in Net Zero brings the West closer to bankruptcy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Neill describes<\/a> COP 28 as \u201ca war of sorts between Americans and Europeans beholden to the eco-religion and developing nations more interested in growth.\u201d Allison Pearson chastises<\/a> the eco-religionists who \u2018claim that they alone are on the right side of humanity\u201d despite the fact that their project to \u201csave the planet\u201d spells a \u201cpainful reduction in comfort and joy for millions\u201d (I would say billions).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pearson chides the fearmongers who predict a \u201cclimate catastrophe\u201d without Net Zero for ignoring the elephant in the room \u2013 that we are \u201ccertain to have an economic and societal catastrophe if we persist in trying to reach that goal by 2050. Humanity cannot bear it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Neill condemns the \u201cneocolonial arrogance, its indifference to the needs and rights of people in the developing world\u201d that stands starkly exposed at COP 28 as a vain search for meaning by a generation that so desperately wants to be as relevant as those who brought an end to racial segregation and Apartheid generations ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energy consultant Tilak Doshi called out<\/a> the \u201ccarbon imperialism\u201d of the U.S., the EU, and their developed country allies at COP 26 in Glasgow for daring to dictate a carbonless future energy policy for the developing world. While that arrogance was still in evidence at Dubai, what has changed, he said, \u201cis the pointed responses in opposition by government representatives outside the climate-evangelical Western group of countries intent on weaning the world off fossil fuels.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kerry, Gore, and the climate crowd are eagerly anticipating their visit to Baku, where they intend to lay out plans to turn Azerbaijan into a deserted wasteland and quash the hopes and dreams of Africans desperate for affordable electricity and other \u201cmodern conveniences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps, though, they should take a cue from the host nation and its historic enemy Armenia, who laid down their weapons to join arm in arm to welcome these glamourous barbarians from the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gro Brundtland, when chairing the world\u2019s first conference on sustainable development, stated that \u201csustainable\u201d must yield to the higher goal of alleviating poverty, and in the real world, this must include energy poverty. It\u2019s time to abandon climate imperialism \u2013 and to set Africa free to chart its own destiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would be good for Africa, even better for the planet and all of its people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The post\u00a0Was COP 28 climate imperialism\u2019s last gasp?<\/a>\u00a0appeared first on\u00a0CFACT<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kenyan agricultural engineer\u00a0Jusper Machogu\u00a0told the COP 28 delegates, \u201cwe want to flourish, we want to replace the 90 percent of Africa\u2019s energy that comes from burning firewood, cow dung, and crop residue. We want to have\u00a0the four pillars\u00a0of modern civilization: cement, steel, plastics, and synthetic fertilizers, all available thanks to fossil fuels.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":293027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Kenyan agricultural engineer\u00a0Jusper Machogu\u00a0told the COP 28 delegates, \u201cwe want to flourish, we want to replace the 90 percent of Africa\u2019s energy that comes from burning firewood, cow dung, and crop residue. 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Essay by Eric Worrall How could this get funnier? Azerbaijan, once described as the nation where it rains oil, has just appointed a state oil company veteran as COP29 President. Azerbaijan appoint state oil company veteran as Cop29 president\u00a0 Published on\u00a004\/01\/2024, 5:19pm Mukhtar Babayev spent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Azerbaijan\"","block_context":{"text":"Azerbaijan","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=azerbaijan"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/2GBGQPx0W8AAuYvV.jpeg?fit=942%2C942&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/2GBGQPx0W8AAuYvV.jpeg?fit=942%2C942&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/2GBGQPx0W8AAuYvV.jpeg?fit=942%2C942&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/2GBGQPx0W8AAuYvV.jpeg?fit=942%2C942&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":299131,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=299131","url_meta":{"origin":293024,"position":2},"title":"COP29 Host Azerbaijan Accused of Greenwashing","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/30\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Critics have pointed out their new green energy agency needs a zero carbon transition plan to be credible.","rel":"","context":"In \"Azerbaijan\"","block_context":{"text":"Azerbaijan","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=azerbaijan"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/025490827448_0bb7121d1c_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C556&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/025490827448_0bb7121d1c_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C556&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/025490827448_0bb7121d1c_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C556&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/025490827448_0bb7121d1c_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C556&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":352119,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=352119","url_meta":{"origin":293024,"position":3},"title":"Time to \u2018Net Zero\u2019 USA out of UN climate meetings","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/23\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"There\u2019s nothing new under the sun. Snow falls, flowers bloom, and then Fall comes with roughly 50,000 delegates, activists and lobbyists flying out to a UN Climate Summit in some exotic part of the world. This year it was to COP 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, where I and other members\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"\u201cGreat Food Reset\u201d\"","block_context":{"text":"\u201cGreat Food Reset\u201d","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=great-food-reset-3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/00COP29-site-Azerbaijan.jpg?fit=1200%2C819&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/00COP29-site-Azerbaijan.jpg?fit=1200%2C819&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/00COP29-site-Azerbaijan.jpg?fit=1200%2C819&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/00COP29-site-Azerbaijan.jpg?fit=1200%2C819&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/00COP29-site-Azerbaijan.jpg?fit=1200%2C819&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":291133,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=291133","url_meta":{"origin":293024,"position":4},"title":"COP 28: Climate campaigners freaking out","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/13\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Climate campaigners from Al Gore and John Kerry, down to the oddest imported student radical, are freaking out over the draft final text as the climate talks in Dubai near their conclusion.","rel":"","context":"In \"Azerbaijan\"","block_context":{"text":"Azerbaijan","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=azerbaijan"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0Fossil-Fuel-protesters-COP-28.jpg?fit=1125%2C745&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0Fossil-Fuel-protesters-COP-28.jpg?fit=1125%2C745&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0Fossil-Fuel-protesters-COP-28.jpg?fit=1125%2C745&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0Fossil-Fuel-protesters-COP-28.jpg?fit=1125%2C745&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0Fossil-Fuel-protesters-COP-28.jpg?fit=1125%2C745&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":353283,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=353283","url_meta":{"origin":293024,"position":5},"title":"The Trump effect sweeps COP 29 ft. 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