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So, who’s left to save the planet from the predicted global warming
Armageddon? Just the European Union, Japan and Australia, with a
combined global emission share of 15 per cent. And, of course, Canada,
with our minuscule 1.6 per cent. The reality is that wiping Canada
off the map would make an imperceptible difference.
The 22nd Conference of the Parties climate-change meeting began in Marrakesh on Nov. 7. The American official party was, of course, from the administration of Barack Obama, which favours emissions reductions. In keeping with our Prime Minister’s passionate embrace of the cause, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna led a delegation of 225, one of the largest of the 100 countries assembled at COP 22.
Imagine their shock when, just 24 hours after the conference opened, they learned that the next U.S. president will be a person who believes human-made global warming is a “hoax” promulgated by China and other countries wanting to steal American jobs.
Not only is president-elect Donald Trump against carbon taxes, he wants to notch up production of the United States’s “huge” oil resources to reduce imports from the Middle East and Venezuela. And he plans to scrap Mr. Obama’s one-sided deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping to shut down American coal-fired power plants while allowing China to commission new coal-fired power plants at a rapid pace.
What are other key countries doing? In Vladimir Putin’s Russia, environmental matters barely appear on a political radar screen that is focused on exercising hard power in the pursuit of global expansion. In India, population growth, corruption and a “rich must pay” attitude mean continuing emissions growth.
This means that the four countries responsible for more than half of global emissions are going to increase them, not lower them. Other countries with no intention of playing the COP game include much of Asia, plus big oil producers Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
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