One of the best articles in a very long time!
By Eric Worrall
h/t GWPF – UCS Strategy Director Alden Meyer has accused developed countries of “hiding behind the United States”, refusing to provide firm commitments to use taxpayers funds to pay large climate “damages” to poor countries.
Breakthrough eludes climate talks, scientists concerned over US role
Developing country negotiators lamented the fact that the United States, which has decided to pull out the Paris Agreement, was continuing to block any meaningful breakthrough on these issues and that other developed countries were not helping matters either.
Written by Amitabh Sinha | Bonn | Updated: November 14, 2017
With more than half the schedule of climate change conference already over, frustration was beginning to show at the lack of progress on any of the key issues under discussion, including the issues of finance, loss and damage, and ‘pre-2020 actions’. Developing country negotiators lamented the fact that the United States, which has decided to pull out the Paris Agreement, was continuing to block any meaningful breakthrough on these issues and that other developed countries were not helping matters either.
“Other developed countries are hiding behind the United States on loss and damage and finance issues. And, I think they need to be called out on this. They need to be asked whether they would side with (US President) Donald Trump or with the vulnerable countries of the world and meet their responsibilities,” Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said, echoing what many country negotiators were saying off the record.
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One of the options being discussed is to raise money through taxes on fossil fuel industry. “Countries are looking for money that is additional to the US$ 100 billion, because loss and damage is additional to the mitigation and adaptation needs. The US$ 100 billion was agreed upon long before the issue of loss and damages became part of discussions at these negotiations. The kind of money we are looking at … has to come by levying taxes on fossil fuel industry that has caused climate change in the first place,” Mohamed Adow, International Climate Lead at Christian Aid, said.
But the developed countries, mainly the US, have not been quite agreed to look at this, suggesting instead that insurance might be a good way to deal with the problem. “On loss and damage and finance, they (the US) have been taking a pretty hard line and that has started to cause some real anger,” Meyers said.
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The reason poor countries stay poor is they are run by looters – nothing to do with climate.
The evidence of the Asian miracle, the rapid rise of formerly poor countries which embraced low tax free market economics and property rights is irrefutable.
Even Communist Dictatorships can prosper by following this simple recipe. Deng Xiaoping liberated China’s productive potential with his Four Modernisations programme in 1977.
Deng’s plan was simple; instead of everyone getting paid the same, people get paid according to how hard they work, how productive they are. The results were and are spectacular; The hard work of China’s people has in just a few decades transformed China from an economic basket case into an economic superpower.
All leaders who want to get rich have to do is curb their greed long enough to allow their people to prosper, to make sure people who work hard get to keep at least some of the money they make from their hard work.
Looters who can’t curb their greed always run out of money. Nobody tries to save money or build their businesses when prosperity just attracts the attention of thieves.
The fake climate crisis appeared to offer a chance for greedy third world looters who have squeezed their own national economies dry to get their hooks into Western prosperity. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few greedy Western politicians were also hoping to receive a slice of the action.
Their fury at being denied is understandable. They showed up hoping to help themselves to our cash, for what they likely thought was a done deal. Thanks largely to President Trump, it seems likely they will go home disappointed.
