Climate Conference 2022: Lots of Ideology, Little Reality

What effect would a nuclear war have on our planet’s climate?

If that were the central issue to be addressed at the Climate Change Conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, it would be a useful event for the future of life on Earth. But since it’s not, this year’s COP27 promises to be just as much a waste of time as the previous galas, including last November’s in Glasgow (cf. SAS 41-45/21). Especially since the priority of the global financial oligarchy has shifted these past months to the war against Russia and China, throwing certain climate goals out the window.

Nonetheless, since the conference is taking place in Africa, more attention than usual has been given to concerns of the poorest countries. It is useful to recall that African countries are responsible for only 4% of the world’s carbon emissions, and yet, they are supposed to sacrifice their own development to help European countries meet their goals.

The view of the City of London on this was expressed by The Economist, in a Nov. 3 article, whose lengthy title says it all: “The world is missing its lofty climate targets. Time for some realism. Global warming cannot be limited to 1.5°C.” There’s just not enough money in developed countries to achieve that goal.

Therefore, The Economist comes up with some unworkable proposal about getting middle-income countries, with some level of industrial development (Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Argentina, Indonesia), to work with the rich countries “to mobilize private investment”. The fact of the matter is that the $100 billion per year of “climate finance” that wealthy countries promised to provide in 2010 have still not materialized to this day!

The hypocrisy of the western elites that demand the Global South cut energy consumption and ban the development of fossil fuels is highlighted in an article in the Bharat Times by Tejal Kanitkar and Ankita Ranjan, of the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bengaluru. In a few figures, they contrast the situations in developed and developing countries.

Sub-Saharan Africa has an average annual per capita electricity consumption of 487 kilowatt-hours (kWh), with an infant mortality rate of 73 per 1,000 live births; The maternal mortality ratio is 534 per 100,000 live births, and the GDP per capita is $1,645. On the other hand, the OECD group of countries has a per capita electricity consumption of 7,750 kWh, corresponding to an infant mortality rate of seven, a maternal mortality rate of 18, and a per capita GDP of $42,098.”

They futher point out that in the United States, “81% of primary energy is from fossil fuels. In Europe, fossil fuels account for 76% of energy consumption”. Moreover, coal consumption in the US and the European Union is projected to “increase by 3% and 7%, respectively”, in 2022.

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