{"id":362212,"date":"2025-01-15T15:21:05","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T14:21:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=362212"},"modified":"2025-01-15T15:21:08","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T14:21:08","slug":"coe-commissioner-attacks-fossil-fuels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=362212","title":{"rendered":"COE Commissioner Attacks Fossil\u00a0Fuels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Paul Homewood<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Alan Smith \u2013 Church Estates Commissioner<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Daily Telegraph has published a comment piece by Alan Smith, titled \u201cFossil fuel backers are becoming the real anti-capitalists<\/a>\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the title suggests, it is an anti-fossil fuel rant, full of misinformation worthy of Extinction Rebellion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He begins by attacking those opposed to woke ESG nonsense, which attempts to block investment in fossil fuels. In Smith\u2019s topsy-turvy world, those opposed to ESG are assaulting \u201cinvestors\u2019 rights\u201d. In reality the opposite is true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Church of England is welcome to invest in whatever it wants. But when I put my savings into a pension fund, I want it to be invested with a view to maximising returns, not forced by ESG regulations and dogma to put it into green energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the main thrust of the article is an attack on fossil fuels themselves. According to him, climate change will bring \u201ccatastrophic costs<\/em>\u201d, and we will leave our children with \u201ca world beset by famine, natural disasters and social upheaval\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll ignore the fact that he is talking through his hat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What really concerns me is his apparent and total ignorance of the immeasurable benefits brought to humanity by fossil fuels in the last couple of hundred years. Or the fact that the poorer countries of the world need greater access to cheap fossil fuel energy, if they are to improve the lives of their people. Does he really want to put all of this at risk?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worse than that, he shows no appreciation that hundreds of millions will inevitably die if chemical fertilisers are banned and mechanisation phased out, both of which will be inevitable when fossil fuels are taken away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putting political ideology above the interest of people is utterly inexcusable for a Churchman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the COE wants to divest in fossil fuels, that\u2019s up to them. But calling for them to be phased out without a practical alternative is not only wrong, it is wicked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full article here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

UPDATE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alan Smith\u2019s formal title is \u201cSenior Advisor \u2013 ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) Risk and Inclusion\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DT did not think it was appropriate to tell its readers this fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

As the title suggests, it is an anti-fossil fuel rant, full of misinformation worthy of Extinction Rebellion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":362216,"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":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691832640,691832639,691818056,691832638,691818154],"class_list":{"0":"post-362212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-banks-and-finance","9":"tag-church-of-england","10":"tag-climate-change","11":"tag-fossil-fuels-2","12":"tag-net-zero","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0LN_Climate-Change-effects_00.webp?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1we8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":263187,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=263187","url_meta":{"origin":362212,"position":0},"title":"Top U.S. Grid Official Says Fossil Fuel Power Plant Closures Could Have \u201cCatastrophic Consequences\u201d","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"21\/06\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioner Mark Christie warned of the potential for \u201ccatastrophic consequences\u201d for the reliability of the American power grid if the U.S. does not stop phasing out fossil fuel infrastructure before renewable infrastructure is capable of replacing its output.","rel":"","context":"In \"Blackouts\"","block_context":{"text":"Blackouts","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=blackouts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0blackouti.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0blackouti.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0blackouti.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0blackouti.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0blackouti.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":376378,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=376378","url_meta":{"origin":362212,"position":1},"title":"Psychoanalysis on Climate \u2018Denial\u2019? 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