Friday, February 7, 2025

COP 26: India defends coal and saves the world from itself

The leading economies of the world such as Europe and the United States of America (USA) are on a relentless economic self-destruction mode, all in the name of saving us from apocalyptic climate change. Mindful of the impact of the shellacking it got recently in the race for governor of Virginia and other local elections, the Biden administration for its part though, got subdued as COP 26 wore on. In any case, its climate alarmism is neither shared by many ordinary Americans at home nor ranked as a top priority. It was therefore a blessing in disguise for the Biden administration that the final language on coal was watered down.

So as the climateers from the developed world went into overdrive and inserted language in the conference communique to phase out coal to generate electricity, it was time for some sober voice to quell the ensuing petulance.

Enter India backed by China: These countries, each with a population of over a billion people face an urgent task of lifting millions out of poverty. Unlike some of the countries such as South Africa which were promised money and seem to waver on the use of coal, India was having none of it. Alok Sharma the COP 26 President could have cried all he liked, but those of us in the developing world, have to thank India for knocking common sense into the heads of the Boris Johnsons of this world. India resisted attempts by the climate guys to saw off the branch on which we sit. And that branch is coal.

Failure to do so would not only have been have reckless but placed the future many of India’s- and indeed the world’s – people at risk. We always have to remember that ordinary people’s chances of escaping poverty depend largely on access to affordable electricity. Coal fired power stations such as Botswana’s, therefore remain the most logical and reliable source of our electricity. Renewables on the other hand are still neither reliable nor technologically advanced enough as a source of electricity, to lift millions of people out of poverty.

I looked hard for evidence of what COP 26 mandarins offered as alternatives to coal except renewables but to no avail. It is therefore unacceptable for leaders of the developed world and their fellow climateers to seek to undermine the chances of improving our lot, not on the basis of science but the ideology of global cooling, global warming, climate change, blah blah blah. Instead of offering sensible alternatives to coal, all they seem held bent on is increasing the burden on millions of people by asking them to switch off the main source of electricity at a moment’s notice. The audacity of asking people to imperil their economies on account of a problem that no one really understands is staggering.

The climate campaigners claim to be led by science and data but unlike real scientists, they brook no dissent. Anyone with conflicting data is a denier. A heretic, if you like! They get a free pass to make all sorts of outlandish claims about the climate change or global warming all day and we are not supposed to ask any questions. The UK’s premier Boris Johnson for example, claimed that “islands are submerged and farm lands turned deserts”. He didn’t cite specific examples of such islands but just because he says so we are supposed to believe him.

It gets even better. Hardly three days after the conclusion of COP 26 where the likes of Boris Johnson and Joe Biden were busy berating us to eat, fly and live less to save the planet, has the Biden administration received bids for offshore leases of 80 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico. So the big boys, BP and Shell are going to be pumping out more of that dreaded fossil fuel called oil. The bids exceeded expectations and that is a good thing. I love it! What is not, is the rest of us being told to go back to live in caves. India’s COP 26 stance on coal could not have been more prescient.

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