The UN’s goal isn’t just to slow down the warming of planet Earth (which is inevitable). The UN also has the goal of getting money from developed nations.

From the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change:

“Article 9 of the Paris Agreement stipulates that developed country Parties shall provide financial resources to assist developing country Parties with respect to both mitigation and adaptation in continuation of their existing obligations under the Convention.”

No, developed nations aren’t supposed to give financial resources (a.k.a. money) directly to developing nations. Instead, developed nations are supposed to give money to the UN. In turn, the UN is supposed to distribute the money to developing nations.

If you believe that developing nations would actually receive all of the money, then this blogger has some ocean-front property in Arizona to sell you.

Then there is this from Politico, 6 December 2019:

“Markets for trading greenhouse gas emissions are already a surging business, more than doubling globally in 2018 to $164 billion, according to analysts at the financial data firm Refinitiv. . . Negotiators in Madrid have begun circulating language about how global carbon markets should operate, though the final decisions aren’t likely to be finished until the conference ends on Dec. 13. But people in the industry are already expressing worries.

Trading credits created through a U.N. system would require sign-off between buyer and seller — something the U.S. companies might not be allowed to do if the U.S. isn’t part of the Paris agreement, said Dirk Forrister, CEO and president of the International Emissions Trading Association, whose members include Chevron, Dow, Shell and BP.”

“There’s gold in them thar hills!” has been replaced with “There be Euros in that thar climate brouhaha!”

Sure, climate change will result in money-making opportunities for some private parties, but at least they are private parties, not government bureaucrats.

Apparently, the European Union is also using climate panic to enrich itself.

From Politico, 13 December 2019: “Europe threatens U.S. with carbon tariffs to combat climate change”

European countries frustrated by inaction on climate change are taking a lesson from President Donald Trump’s trade wars — and threatening carbon tariffs on laggards like the United States.

By imposing tariffs on goods from the U.S. and other countries that lack tough climate policies, the Europeans would help their own industries avoid being handicapped by the EU’s greenhouse gas efforts. But if they hit the U.S., they would risk a worsening trade war with the Trump administration, which has already threatened hefty tariffs on goods such as French champagne and German autos over a range of competition disputes.

Such proposed tariffs would have little (if any) impact on global carbon emissions.

From the New York Post editorial board, 23 November 2019: “Pretty much everything the rest of the world is doing to reduce carbon emissions is being neutralized by a single big, bad actor — and it’s not the United States under President Trump, but the People’s Republic of China. Many countries are falling short of the decarbonization goals hammered out at the 2016 Paris climate convention. But Beijing — already the world’s No. 1 carbon emitter, producing more than a quarter of global CO2 exhausts — stands out. With its economy slowed to a rate not seen since the early ’90s, it’s re-embracing the dirtiest fossil fuel.”

From Reuters, 2 December 2019: “China is building more coal-fired power plants and approving dozens of new mines, despite assurances from the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter that it was serious about fighting climate change.”

From BBC News, 20 November 2019: “While the rest of the world has cut coal-based electricity over the past 18 months, China has added enough to power 31 million homes. That’s according to a study that says China is now in the process of building or reviving coal equivalent to the EU’s entire generating capacity. China is also financing around a quarter of all proposed coal plants outside its borders. Researchers say the surge is a major threat to the Paris climate targets.”

Perhaps the EU should send Greta Thunberg to China to lecture China’s political leaders.

David Robertson

The “Wanted” posters say the following about David: “Wanted: A refugee from planet Melmac masquerading as a human. Loves cats. If seen, contact the Alien Task Force.”

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