Climate Change, Carbon Taxes, Decarbonization and ENGOs

Coal phase-out may take longer than countries are willing to admit – report – by Staff (Mining.com – November 23, 2021)

November 23, 2021

https://www.mining.com/

A new report by Wood Mackenzie states that despite countries agreeing to phase down coal at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, thermal coal demand is expected to rise until the mid-2020s.

“Under our base case Energy Transition Outlook (ETO), which is aligned to a 2.7°C warming TO scenario, demand for thermal coal will peak in 2025 at just over 7 billion tonnes, falling by just 5% to 6.7 billion tonnes in 2030,” Julian Kettle, who is senior vice president and vice-chair of metals and mining at WoodMac, wrote in the report.

The ghastly charade in Glasgow and the West’s self-flagellation over the climate – by Conrad Black (National Post – November 21, 2021)

November 22, 2021

https://nationalpost.com/

Last week in this space, as the Glasgow climate change conference (COP26) was wrapping up, I pointed out once again what a colossal scam most of the climate fear campaign is. A 1 C increase in very approximately estimated world temperature in 120 years does not remotely justify the widespread hysteria on this subject in Western Europe and North America.

Countless predictions of imminent climate disaster over the last 50 years have proved to be utter piffle. Yet the frenzy does not abate. Organized groups of schoolchildren march about accusing the world’s adults of inflicting ecological strangulation upon them. (We should bring back corporal punishment before we shut down the oil industry.)

David Suzuki says pipelines will be ‘blown up’ if leaders don’t act on climate change (CHEK News – November 21, 2021)

November 22, 2021

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A renowned environmental activist has a stern warning for politicians and global leaders if they fail to act on climate change.n“There are going to be pipelines blowing up if our leaders don’t pay attention to what’s going on,” David Suzuki told CHEK News on Saturday without elaborating further.

The prominent environmentalist made the comments during an Extinction Rebellion Vancouver Island protest — called a Funeral for the Future — in downtown Victoria on Saturday afternoon. Suzuki was also at the group’s first event in the United Kingdom in 2018.

Biden’s bad green policy supply chain – by Terence Corcoran (Financial Post – November 20, 2021)

November 22, 2021

https://financialpost.com/

With all the policy angst about global supply chain crises that threaten various physical aspects of the international economy, from the movement of goods through vital ports to rising inflation to production bottlenecks, there’s another kind of supply chain crisis in the works.

That’s the supply of bad ideas that are streaming like flood waters into economic policy from the climate policy ocean. A prime demonstration of the ideological pileup is the chain-link of ideas driving U.S. President Joe Biden’s plans for the U.S. auto industry.

Clean energy faces its own supply chain crisis – by Justine Calma (The Verge – November 17, 2021)

November 17, 2021

https://www.theverge.com/

The future of energy in America will depend on whether the US can break free from its dependence on other countries that dominate clean energy supply chains. To reach the Biden administration’s energy and environmental goals, the US will have to dramatically scale up its mining and manufacturing, lawmakers argued today during a joint hearing of the House Energy Subcommittee and the Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee. They also raised serious concerns about the US’s ability to do so.

“The sustainable economy of the future will definitely need to be built and manufactured. The question that remains to be seen is whether it will be manufactured by Americans,” said Congressman Paul Tonko (D-NY) in his opening statement.

Canada has a quarter of world’s soil carbon. Keeping it in the ground could curb climate change, experts say – by Inayat Singh and Alice Hopton (CBC News Science – November 10, 2021)

November 15, 2021

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/

Canada has 384 billion tonnes carbon stored in peatland and other soils, new study has found

Canada stores about a quarter of the world’s soil carbon, according to a new study that puts a spotlight on the country’s role in protecting that carbon to help prevent further climate change.

Those carbon-rich soils are found especially in peatland: boggy wetlands in northern Ontario and parts of Manitoba that are filled with accumulated plant matter that’s been collecting over thousands of years.

Unfettered climate alarmism on full display at COP26 – by Conrad Black (National Post – November 14, 2021)

November 15, 2021

https://nationalpost.com/

A week after the Glasgow climate conference opened, 100,000 demonstrators marched to denounce the delegates as frauds who would not impose the revolution required in fossil fuel elimination to save the planet. The inevitable Swedish teenage climate protester Greta Thunberg called it, “Two weeks of business as usual: blah, blah, blah.”

Fortunately, she is correct: the Glasgow commitments are not binding and no one will pay any attention to them. Our government leaders are sufficiently intelligent to know that drastic reductions of carbon emissions are not, in fact, desirable, but they are not sufficiently courageous to tell the truth to the vast, brain-washed, brain-dead number of deluded climate alarmists who have bought into the bunk that the end is nigh.

Ford is right: Ontario has the right stuff to lead on electric vehicles – Star Editorial Board (Toronto Star – November 11, 2021)

November 12, 2021

https://www.thestar.com/

Can Ontario become a one-stop shop in electric vehicle manufacture unlike any other market in all of North America? Premier Doug Ford thinks so. And in the abstract, he makes a good case. In the specific, there are major hurdles to be overcome.

Consider, first, the long-troubled Ring of Fire, the much touted and frequently stymied reserve of mineral riches in the James Bay Lowlands. The Ford government’s economic outlook of a week ago promised that the Ring of Fire, with its reserves of nickel, cobalt, manganese and more, will play a key role in the future of clean manufacturing in Ontario.

Climate protesters actually demanding global blackouts – by Lorrie Goldstein (Toronto Sun – November 6, 2021)

November 9, 2021

https://torontosun.com/

Let’s examine how Canada’s most successful project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would never have happened if the climate protesters marching on the streets at the UN climate summit in Glasgow had their way.

Between 2003 and 2014, the Liberal government of Ontario under premier Dalton McGuinty eliminated the use of coal to produce 25% of its electricity. As the Liberals noted, this was single largest reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in North America at the time.

China’s Climate Goals Hinge on a $440 Billion Nuclear Buildout – by Dan Murtaugh and Krystal chia (Bloomberg News – November 2, 2021)

November 8, 2021

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Nuclear power once seemed like the world’s best hope for a carbon-neutral future. After decades of cost-overruns, public protests and disasters elsewhere, China has emerged as the world’s last great believer, with plans to generate an eye-popping amount of nuclear energy, quickly and at relatively low cost.

China has over the course of the year revealed the extensive scope of its plans for nuclear, an ambition with new resonance given the global energy crisis and the calls for action coming out of the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow.

Biggest polluters missing from COP26 pledge to phase out coal – by Adam Radwanski (Globe and Mail – November 5, 2021)

November 8, 2021

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A new global pact to transition away from coal power, announced on Thursday at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, has been compromised by the refusal of the world’s biggest emitters to sign on.

The host British government has made it a primary goal of the United Nations conference to “consign to history” the fuel currently responsible for about 30 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions, and succeeded in getting some heretofore coal-friendly or coal-reliant countries – such as Indonesia, Poland, South Korea and Vietnam – to be among more than 40 nations joining the agreement.

Greta Thunberg, other climate change activists in Glasgow slam ‘greenwashing’ and ‘false solutions’ – by Eve Hartley and Ben Adler (Yahoo News – November 3, 2021)

November 8, 2021

https://news.yahoo.com/

GLASGOW, Scotland — Climate activist Greta Thunberg stormed out of an event at the U.N. Climate Change Conference on Wednesday afternoon, where officials and business leaders were discussing how to ensure that markets for trading carbon offsets actually achieve the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Swedish teenager, who was in the audience at a panel discussion, left the venue saying, “Thanks for greenwashing,” after a moderator thanked her for attending the session.

Ontario can be a leader in climate change action solutions, says report – by Staff (Sudbury.com – November 4, 2021)

November 5, 2021

https://www.sudbury.com/

Ontario Chamber of Commerce calls on governments to keep investing in net-zero technologies

Ontario has certain competitive advantages to confront the climate change crisis that can bring about clear economic and environmental benefits for the world.

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has released a report – The Climate Catalyst: Ontario’s Leadership in the Green Global Economy – that takes a snapshot of what provincial organizations are doing to transition to a net-zero economy and what government policymakers can do to encourage more sustainable investment and innovation.

OPINION: Greenwashing is real as companies and funds ride the ESG express. The goal is to make it rare – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – November 5, 2021)

November 5, 2021

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Two buzzwords feature in virtually every event, interview, news release, bit of commentary and protest at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow: “net-zero” and “greenwashing.” The more you hear about the former, the more you hear about the latter. There seems to be a direct correlation between the two.

“Net-zero” refers to the commitments made by most countries, and many big companies, to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. “Greenwashing” refers to any efforts by countries and companies to exaggerate their environmental credentials – the greener-than-thou approach.

An interview with Bjorn Lomborg — a rare breath of fresh air in the climate debate – by Diane Francis (Financial Post – November 5, 2021)

November 5, 2021

https://financialpost.com/

‘Environmental journalists have become PR persons for green movements and that leads us to become poor because we end up with bad decisions’

Two weeks of climate change alarmism is in full throttle and Canadian taxpayers are footing the bill to send 277 delegates and 17 press aides to attend the gigantic COP26 conference in Glasgow, as world leaders are lining up to make long-term announcements, with few specifics on how, or if, they will be implemented, or what the consequences might be.

Few are able to provide a counterbalance to all this as well as climate economist Bjorn Lomborg.