Opinions

John Kerry Lays It All Out on Climate Change


Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on Jan. 17.



Photo:

fabrice coffrini/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

John Kerry

is President Biden’s climate envoy to the world, and let it never be said that he lacks enthusiasm for the cause. This week in Davos, in front of the world’s elite climateers, Mr. Kerry gave a speech that everyone should read for its candid declaration of what he thinks it is going to take to save the planet from fossil fuels. To wit, an all-out militarization by government and private industry comparable to fighting the Nazis.

The world needs to treat climate change like World War II when “in order to win the war that we had to organize ourselves to take control of the skies and take control of the seas and be able to smash the battlements that had been built along the coastline of France and Belgium and the Netherlands,” Mr. Kerry said.

This isn’t exactly

Winston Churchill

vowing to fight on the beaches, fields and streets, but you get the idea. Give the former Secretary of State credit for acknowledging the steep costs and other barriers to expunging fossil fuels that most climate catastrophists would rather not admit in public.

“Let’s face it, a whole bunch of companies in the world have chosen to say, ‘I’m going to be net zero by 2050,’” he said. “And you and I, we know they don’t have a clue how they’re going to get there. And most of them are not on track to get there.”

Maybe that’s because no one else knows either because with current technology it isn’t possible. That’s certainly true of governments in the U.S. and Europe, which have committed to zeroing out their CO2 emissions by 2050 but haven’t implemented the policies or developed the technologies to get there. Not that it would make much difference if they did as long as China and India continue to build coal plants to fuel their economic growth.

China emits two-thirds more CO2 than Europe and the U.S. combined. Even if all countries met their existing net-zero commitments, the world would exceed the warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above temperatures in the 19th century. The world has already warmed 1.1 degrees.

Mr. Kerry complained about “wads of bureaucracy” such as permitting regulations that require “10 years to get a siting plan for a wind farm or solar” plant. Has he mentioned this to Mr. Biden and the climate left? And how will turning over more of the economy to government central planners speed up any of this?

His answer seems to be that what the world needs most to fight climate change is “money, money, money, money, money, money, money.” By which he means other people’s money.

“The key is philanthropy,” he said. Translation: Government and financial institutions must make grants and low-interest loans to poor countries with no expectation of a financial return. This was the idea behind the climate reparations to low-income countries that Mr. Kerry committed the U.S. to at the U.N.’s conference last fall in Egypt.

Mr. Kerry acknowledged this so-called “loss and damage” agreement was a bribe to lower-income countries to get them to reduce emissions: “We have to do it to build the political consensus.” He also said that rich countries had an obligation to finance the green-energy transition for poor ones through “bankable deals,” “leverage” and “take first-loss” policies.

All of this goes a long way to explaining why the climate elites of Davos keep meeting resistance from the common folk who would bear the economic burden. No one wants to enlist in, or pay for, a war that its generals have no clue how to win, much less the means to do it.

Review & Outlook: Despite regular power shortages in California, on Sept. 16, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed 40 new climate bills to amp up California’s green-energy shock experiment. Images: Shutterstock/Getty Images Composite: Mark Kelly

Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Appeared in the January 20, 2023, print edition as ‘John Kerry Lays It All Out on Climate.’



READ SOURCE

Read More   A letter to my loved ones about COVID-19: You've moved on, but I'm still here

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.