International Climate Summit Ends with Agreement, Disagreements on Coal Use

The COP26 climate summit in Scotland produced an agreement on the goals of mitigating climate change. China and India objected to strong anti-coal language.

Summary

The COP26 climate summit in Scotland ended with a deal signed by participating countries that targeted fossil fuels “for the first time.”

• The summit’s goal was to set an agreement that would limit atmospheric warming by the standards set by the Paris Accords, requiring global emissions to be cut in half by 2030.
• The entire agreement was nearly scrapped at the last minute by China and India, both of which still rely heavily on coal for energy.
• The U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry praised the deal and rationalized China’s efforts to scuttle the conference, saying “you have to phase down coal before you can…’end coal.’”
• The United Nations Secretary-General actually criticized the approved text, saying it is too little, too late for vulnerable nations, particularly for island nations like the Maldives.
• It is important to note this document is not legally binding and there are no penalties for either this multinational agreement or the Paris Accord.

• CNN criticized the deal for failing to “reflect the urgency” of the scientific community who called the climate crisis a “code red for humanity.”
• Vox also said it didn’t measure up, saying it failed to be the “massive course correction” needed for the world and desired by climate activists.
• Washington Post used the climate summit as an opportunity to swipe at the Trump administration which withdrew from the Paris Accords last year, saying American leadership is back at the forefront of climate politics.

• Newsmax noted the “weaker” language on coal use, saying it’s “watered-down language” is being criticized by groups such as Greenpeace.
• Townhall’s critical rundown the summit noted the carbon footprint of the conference itself was double the previous conference, including a tweet from Sen. Ted Cruz who called attendees hypocrites.
• Fox News highlighted teen climate activist Greta Thunberg’s less than enthusiastic reaction to the COP26 agreement, in which she said “Here’s a brief summary: Blah, blah, blah.”

Author’s Take

There are no penalties, no structure for how to achieve these goals. Just lofty words written by elites who came together to pat themselves on the back for agreeing with each other that something needs to be done.

One doesn’t have to be as vocal (or rabid) as activists like Thunberg, or even agree with them about the severity of the problem to see how utterly useless and pointless this summit was. In a few years, they’ll get together again, handwringing over meaningless phrases and the length of time for considering changes, and a document of equal value (i.e. none) will be produced. Yet, they’ll all continue to fly around in their private jets to wag their finger at all of us, who are seeing wages stagnate and the price of goods increase.

Hypocrites, all of them.

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© Dallas Gerber, 2021