Time Magazine: Without US Money Global Climate Progress Will Slow

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

Greens are complaining that lack of US financial support is impacting progress. But a closer look at Green Climate Fund documents in my opinion opens serious questions about how that money was being spent.

How Trump Could Slow Climate Change Projects Around the World

Justin Worland

Much of the fallout from President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement has centered on the symbolism of losing the world’s largest economy and second largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions as a leader in the fight against climate change. Now, scientists, advocates and officials around the world are becoming increasingly concerned about the tangible effects it will have on the rest of the globe.

In addition to pulling out of Paris, which will not take effect until 2020, Trump has reneged on $2 billion in unpaid commitments to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which was created in advance of the Paris Agreement to support projects to address climate change in the developing world. Climate finance experts fear it could be a sign of further cuts to other programs that depend on American resources.

“There’s a whole slew of things where the U.S. has become such an important supporter of other countries,” says Rachel Kyte, CEO of United Nations-backed initiative Sustainable Energy for All and former World Bank climate envoy. “Certainly there will be cuts. Exactly where the cuts call will be is something we don’t know.”

For many countries, losing funding means the difference between an aggressive and a limited effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Nearly 190 countries representing more than 90% of global greenhouse gas emissions submitted plans to address climate change in advance of Paris Agreement negotiations. Developing countries by and large offered two commitments, one of which was contingent on financing.

U.S. withdrawal has not led other countries to pull back on their GCF commitments—at least not yet. “We’re on track as long as everybody sticks to the commitments that they made,” says Leonardo Martinez, global director of the sustainable finance center at the World Resources Institute. “We still don’t know what percentage of those commitments is going to be in jeopardy.”

Read more: http://time.com/4813115/paris-agreement-climate-change-trump-green-climate-fund/

Why am I concerned about how Green Climate Fund money is being spent? Page 12 of a green climate fund progress report (2016) contains a list of countries titled Annex I: List of countries with national designated authorities/focal points. The list includes Iran, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Syria – countries listed in Executive Order 13769 – President Trump’s Travel Ban.

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June 14, 2017 12:20 am

Eric! Are you questioning Ayatollah Khamenei’s commitment to fighting climate change? Surely not!

Ed Zuiderwijk
Reply to  daveburton
June 14, 2017 2:07 am

The Ayatollah has consistently wished the free West to hell. Now that would be a temperature rise to worry about!

Greg
Reply to  Ed Zuiderwijk
June 14, 2017 4:34 am

The list includes Iran, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Syria – countries listed in Executive Order 13769 – President Trump’s Travel Ban.

You should be mroe worried that the money is not even going to where it is intended to be going. Recent comments here indicated that $6bn out of $7bn had been wasted in overheads.
$100bn a year fund without any proper oversight of legal accountability ( any UN officer has total diplomatic immunity from any legal action in any country of the world ) makes it the biggest target for corruption in the history in the world. EVAH.

Bryan A
Reply to  Ed Zuiderwijk
June 14, 2017 10:03 am

Then there is this tidbit

Developing countries by and large offered two commitments, one of which was contingent on financing.

Where as Contingent on Financing can also br understood to really mean Contingent on Extortion payments

Pop Piasa
Reply to  Ed Zuiderwijk
June 14, 2017 11:09 am

Can we just say that “without US funds global socialist progress will slow” and be happy about it?

commieBob
June 14, 2017 12:32 am

Some folks think America gives way too much foreign aid which is what the climate money is. link The writer of the linked article worries that America will end up like Sweden. link
I’ve seen arguments advancing America’s interests with foreign aid. link
Personally, I think the climate money would be much better spent getting some of our homeless veterans off the streets. link

Greg
Reply to  commieBob
June 14, 2017 4:37 am

Agreed about the vets but “foreign aid” is never aid, it is a way of buying influence and exerting pressure.

MarkW
Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 7:08 am

” buying influence and exerting pressure.”
Which, if done wisely, can be a good thing.

Patrick B
Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 7:21 am

If we are spending money to buy influence and exert pressure, let’s at least do it efficiently and put foreign politicians directly on the payroll.

Crispin in Waterloo
Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 8:56 am

Greg
All foreign aid ‘helps’. The question is, who gets helped?

johchi7
Reply to  Crispin in Waterloo
June 14, 2017 10:17 am

The only people foreign aid helps are those in Government’s that do the distribution. $8 for me $2 for you…

Bryan A
Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 10:09 am

I would say, If you want US involvement ($,$$$,$$$,$$$), then give US the control over how and where the ($,$$$,$$$,$$$) is spent, It is after all mostly our $,$$$,$$$,$$$ that would make up the fund. That way it wouldn’t be paid to the moner grubbing dictators to pocket or to corrupt politicians form any country, but to the workers that do the installations and the companies that produce/distribute/ the products and supplies needed for individual projects.

Pop Piasa
Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 12:01 pm

Bryan A, that just shifts the shark frenzy to the US bureaucrats from the foreign ones. Buying influence is the liberal approach. Investing in the people on a local level (mostly in education and living conditions) is what benefits the developing world most.
Don’t ship in token amounts of food just big enough to destroy the local market, teach modern farming and develop innovative solutions to boost the local productivity. Our Democratic ways (and their self-serving leaders) have kept the 3rd world nations from achieving self-sustenance and gaining affluence.

Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 4:46 pm

And if done through the UN and especially others, is not a wise thing.

noaaprogrammer
Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 7:33 pm

Buying Influence? – just call it what it is – Bribery.

Tom O
Reply to  commieBob
June 15, 2017 11:06 am

With “foreign aid,” a nation can hope to have some influence on the government or governments being supported, with significant exception being a nation in the middle east. With green fund money, it is more like tossing the money in the air and seeing where it lands. You can also expect to have no influence on how it is used. I might support direct funding of programs to help nations improve their survivability, but I don’t believe in blindly dropping cash down a rat hole.

Voltron
June 14, 2017 12:59 am

Indeed, like old Bjorn Lomborg carries on about – if we put all the money that the Greens are keen on spending on nebulous climate policies, we could actually SOLVE a bunch of real-world problems and the world would be better off for it in reality!
Yes, yes, I know Greens are not about solving issues. Solving problems fixes them and thus no-one can complain about them anymore. It’s much better to bang on about problems that have no solution and be perpetually upset.

Lee L
Reply to  Voltron
June 14, 2017 10:25 am

Spend a 100 billion a year on contraception. That ought to solve a whole lot of problems.

MarkW
Reply to  Lee L
June 14, 2017 11:49 am

Except there is no evidence that spending on contraception causes a decrease in population growth.

Pop Piasa
Reply to  Lee L
June 14, 2017 12:06 pm

“you can lead the horse to water…”

Leonard Lane
Reply to  Lee L
June 14, 2017 2:07 pm

Always someone who wants to reduce world population. But funny thing, they never want to lead by example.

Auto
Reply to  Lee L
June 14, 2017 4:01 pm

Lee L
Spend that sum on female education, and the birth rate will tumble.
Contraception will happen – or – ‘Say “No!”‘
Auto

Joe Crawford
Reply to  Lee L
June 15, 2017 10:55 am

Actually the best way to limit population growth is through economic development. With improved GDP you get better education, improved living standards and, unless severely hindered by religion or culture, reduced birth rate.

Joe Crawford
Reply to  Lee L
June 15, 2017 10:57 am

I forgot to add that economic development requires cheap, inexpensive energy.

Peta from Cumbria, now Newark
June 14, 2017 1:20 am

Think about what Mr Trump has actually done here.
Like DJT I’;m gonna catch a load of flak too but…..
He’s taken/made one very tough decision. All the other countries, that would be on the receiving end of US financial largesse, are effectively beggars. Tramps you would meet on the street. Of course every single one of them will put a heart-tending argument up about why you should give them ‘charity’ – money most obviously.
But as England’s Victorians discovered when they did good causes and charity work, it becomes a bottomless money hole for the charity giver and makes the receivers ever more dependant on that charity and less able/willing to ‘get off their ar5es and actually help themselves.
It is a complete lose-lose situation.
Then many people, trying to ingratiate themselves with you, will say ‘Oh but you can afford it, you’re well-off, rich and have a comfortable life. Give them just a little’
People like to be ‘rubbed up’ the right way.
Every one likes to hear those words, or do they? Where is the sceptisim that sees an ulterior motive, that sees the lies?
What sort of people like those kind of compliments if not the weak-willed, muddle headed and especially those lacking their own self-confidence. People without clear minds and lacking the ability to make difficult decisions correctly, quickly and thenceforth be able to defend those decisions. Those are the kind of people who panic easily also. people who think they can tell lies and get away with doing so.
Now does it sound like catastrophic AGW?
It is patently driven by dull minded people who cannot think their way out of a wet paper bag the science so so ‘funny’ it has ceased to be funny. It is sad beyond belief.
Driven by people who want to pass the buck, People incapable of looking after themselves.
IOW, people who want to be permanent children.
Did all these other countries always behave like that?. What happened to be like that now? Why are they running to a big mother/protector figure screaming, pleading and hiding under her proverbial apron just because the think they’ve seen a monster in the back-yard?
What changed. What went wrong?

Peta from Cumbria, now Newark
Reply to  Peta from Cumbria, now Newark
June 14, 2017 1:27 am

In a nutshell, Donald is telling these people that they are sad pathetic losers – and to “Get A Life”
Surprise!!! They don’t like it.
They are so dull they cannot even handle surprises any more which just then forms a nice little positive feedback loop…..
Innit A Mess

wws
Reply to  Peta from Cumbria, now Newark
June 14, 2017 7:31 am

Excellent pair of posts!!!! And yet the leftist press runs all over with headlines such as “214 countries agree with Paris accord, only Trump walks out!” or some such.
When the real story is “214 countries say yes, they want MO MONEY, MO MONEY, MO MONEY!!! but the one guy who is supposed to pay for ALL of it just walked out.”
Which brings us to today’s story: Now that the One Guy who was supposed to pay for ALL of it has walked out, guess what? It ain’t so important to get any of that done anymore!!!

Latitude
Reply to  Peta from Cumbria, now Newark
June 14, 2017 6:01 am

The EU can’t afford to take up the slack……it’s over

willhaas
June 14, 2017 1:37 am

The climate change we are experiencing today is caused by the sun and the oceans over which mankind has no control so the Paris climate sgreement will have no effect on climate. The USA has a huge federal debt and huge annual trade deficits. They have to borrow just to make ends meet so they have no money to spend trying to reduce so called greenhouse gases. Get the money from countries who have it like China.

prjindigo
Reply to  willhaas
June 14, 2017 3:03 am

The CO2 increases are being caused by environmental destruction tho. They *are* concerning and need to be slowed or stopped.

Latitude
Reply to  prjindigo
June 14, 2017 6:46 am

…like the hormones and crap in the water we drink…..

willhaas
Reply to  prjindigo
June 14, 2017 2:00 pm

There is no real evidence that CO2 affects climate and plenty of scientiic rational to support the idea that the climate sensivity is zero. There are many good reasons to be conserving on the use of fossil fuels but climate change is not one of them.

ClimateOtter
June 14, 2017 1:59 am

IF ‘Nearly 190 countries representing more than 90% of global greenhouse gas emissions’ Then the US isn’t really contributing all that much to the ‘problem,’ is it?

Mariano Marini
Reply to  ClimateOtter
June 14, 2017 2:18 am

But is the richest to steal from!

ClimateOtter
June 14, 2017 2:02 am

I should also add that if the United States would just STOP FEEDING HALF THE PLANET, then our ‘per capita’ CO2 emissions would fall substantially.

Greg
Reply to  ClimateOtter
June 14, 2017 4:43 am

That kind of accounting trickery can work both ways. Do you want to take on half of China’s CO2 emissions on the basic that you import the goods?
Just pick the figures which fit the argument you want to make and ignore the rest. That usually works fine.

Henning Nielsen
June 14, 2017 2:02 am

The GCF has now a capital of 10,1 bn dollars, but that amount is defined as “announced and signed”, including 3 bn from the US. Only 1 bn, IMO, har been actually transferred to the fund by Obama, which leaves a big hole of ca. 20% in the 10 bn, if Trump withholds the other 2bn.
http://www.greenclimate.fund/partners/contributors/resources-mobilized
But even this si just peanuts compared to the “promised” 100 bn dollars EVERY YEAR from 2020. I see no signs of such pledges being fulfilled, nor any concrete plan for this vast funding. No doubt the UN and the MSM would have gloated over such announcements, had it happened. That is the real giant elephant in climate funding.

Harry Reid's Treadmill
Reply to  Henning Nielsen
June 15, 2017 1:13 am

Henning, the $100B/yr will come via high carbon taxes and other taxes. A dime at a time. It adds up quickly.

Jer0me
June 14, 2017 2:03 am

When I have a lot of money, I tend to give to several charities, and respond positively to calls fir contributions. I also tend to give to homeless beggars.
When I don’t have much, I don’t.
I really don’t see how a country with a huge national debt can just doing money at beggars, however deserving they may be. Those who feel otherwise should stump up the cash themselves instead of insisting that others are forced to.

Greg
Reply to  Jer0me
June 14, 2017 4:47 am

IIRC Trump just *increased* defence spending by $50bn, no idea what total is. So the $2bn is pocket change. I’m not saying I think Trump is wrong to pull, fair game to him. But poverty argument really does not work.

OweninGA
Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 5:11 am

But I don’t advocate throwing money down a crapper every time some one-world socialist yells that “’tis but pocket change”

MarkW
Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 7:11 am

By the same token, the US budget is over a trillion dollars. $50bn is pocket change.

scarletmacaw
Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 7:33 am

Spending $500 on groceries doesn’t make the $20 you’d give a panhandler “pocket change.”

Marty
Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 9:44 am

Where do you get off saying two billion dollars is “pocket change?” No body likes the increase in defense spending but with the situation with North Korea building nukes and missiles, with the threats from Iran and with Russia invading Ukraine the increase in defense spending is needed and prudent. Spending two billion on the green climate fund on the other hand is just plain crazy. For two billions dollars we could for example end the student loan problem, fund a high risk pool for medical insurance, build new high schools all over the country, help end homelessness, or simply pay down the national debt. If you don’t want the two billion dollars then give it to me.

Jeffrey Mitchell
Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 11:18 am

If its just pocket change, I would’t mind it if you put it in my pocket! 🙂

Ill Tempered Klavier
Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 11:24 am

“A billion here, a billion there, and before you know it, you’re talkin’ real money.” Sen. Everett Dirksen

Greg Strebel
Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 11:41 am

Marty, the rationale for increased military spending is as flawed as any ‘green’ carbon (dioxide) project funding. Why would you believe for a minute the propaganda spewed by the military industrial complex and their MSM accomplices? Russia did not ‘invade’ Ukraine’ and has no designs on Poland, the Baltic States, etc. On the contrary, after NATO (the U.S.) betrayed the James Baker / Mikhael Gorbachev agreement that NATO would not move one inch eastward if the (then) USSR would accommodate the re-unification of E&W Germany, where the Soviets had 30 divisions, every member of the Warsaw Pact got swallowed up by NATO. Then the US starts setting up radar stations and antiballistic missile sites in these nations, on the transparent lie that they are to protect Europe from rogue nations (Iran, etc.) nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
With the US promoting color revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia and Victoria Nuland proudly reporting spending $5 Billion ‘promoting democracy’ in Ukraine, is it any wonder that Russia balked upon the coup that overthrew Yanukovic and promoted the restoration of Crimea to its historic national ties? An analogy might be the Cuban missile crisis. False flag incidents such as the downing of MH17, the gas attacks on civilians in Gouta (Damascus, Syria) utterly fail the cui bono test, yet are broadly and repeatedly asserted by officials and MSM in the west. Meanwhile the US directed overthrow of the Iranian government in 1953, and the shooting down of the Iranian civilian airliner have fallen into the memory hole.
WIth over 900 US military bases in 130 countries around the world, with the obvious lie of WMD in Iraq (as denied by UN Chief Weapons Inspector (and former US Marine) Scott Ritter, is it no wonder that some countries are suspicious of US motives? None the less, Iran is signatory to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty and has complied with inspection requirements and recent negotiations resulted in agreement to even more restrictive requirements, yet the demonization continues. Contrast this to the situation vis a vis Israel, which not a signatory of the NNPT and which is known to have hundreds of nuclear missiles (compliments of Mordecai Vanunu) plus the means to deliver them. And for a little hint at the integrity of this country, particularly poignant on this 50th anniversary, check out the story of the June ’67 attack on the USS Liberty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZluFfyQ7sAI

MarkW
Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 11:51 am

Wow Greg, you really have drunk the kool aid haven’t you.
It’s all a conspiracy by the military industrial complex and Kim and the Imam’s are in on the scam.
Gotcha.

Bill Murphy
Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 12:09 pm

Senator Everett Dirksen is alleged to have said, “A billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.” Anybody who has ever run a solvent business (like DJT, and which the federal government is supposed to be) can identify with that.

Auto
Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 4:24 pm

Greg Strebel June 14, 2017 at 11:41 am
Thanks for a new-speak version.
Crimea – Ukraine (well, it was).
Now occupied by Russian forces.
Even some other parts of the ‘mainland’ [my word] Ukraine are under ‘foreign’ [Russian? – well, they speak Russian, write Russian, and act like Russians; if it walks, quacks and floats like a duck, it probably IS a duck. Comprehension test to follow] control.
And MH17 – the missile apparently came from a very Russian area [Independent analysis (Dutch, I believe, haven’t checked sources tonight, so open to correction. My memory is human and fallible.).]
The Iranian airliner was a mistake, certainly, but the Iranian authorities had been warned, following suspicious activity. I doubt – but could be enlightened – that the Iranians would have let a plane – mostly Iranian passengers – be, well, sacrificed. I doubt. I certainly do not know, but think it unlikely that Iran would have done such a thing.
And, yes – follow my own code – Do NOT feed the Troll.
Sorry – I have, but some rewritings of history are so obscene, egregious and utterly foul, that I simply could not resist.
Auto, ready to restock my vocabulary if needed.

noaaprogrammer
Reply to  Greg
June 14, 2017 8:03 pm

The second week into our marriage 45 years ago, I told my wife I wanted her to cut my hair (rather than spend money at a barber shop). Over those years I figure we averaged about 10 haircuts a year since I was in the military part of the time, followed by the era when long hair was popular, and now ending with a haircut about every 6 weeks for the last half of our marriage. And, supposing the average cost of a haircut at a barber shop over those 45 years is $10, I have saved 10 x 10 x 45 = $4500.

Greg Strebel
Reply to  Greg
June 16, 2017 7:58 am

MarkW & Auto, I hesitated to continue on the OT note, however I cannot overlook the opportunity to compare your responses on this subject to those of the CAGW camp to the skeptical camp, of which I am solidly a member, subject of course to revelation of verifiable facts which would support a changed conclusion.
I am always conscious of the confirmation bias tendency and make deliberate efforts to understand opposing arguments, having in times past been faced with compelling evidence that my former opinion was incorrect or at least too simplistic. I do not assume that anyone who has a different opinion on any one matter is automatically a troll. I look for substantive evidence or a pattern of behaviour that indicates whether or not a sincere effort to approach the truth is being made. Disparaging people for expressing opinions with which you do not agree before conducting some research ones self does not speak highly of the process by which one develops his own opinions.

Reply to  Greg
June 16, 2017 10:20 am

Marty
First lets not call it defense spending. Call it what it is; offense spending. If you want true defense cut the military budget in half. Then maybe you’d get systems that worked rather than cost a bunch. Lockheed used to engineer airplanes. Now Lockheed is very adept at engineering profits.

Ed Zuiderwijk
June 14, 2017 2:10 am

If the ‘others’ can be bothered to stump up the ‘missing’ money, well then their commitment to the cause can’t run very deep, can it?

Russell
Reply to  Ed Zuiderwijk
June 14, 2017 2:26 am

DELINGPOLE: Ship of Fools III – Global Warming Study Cancelled Because of ‘Unprecedented’ Ice http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/06/13/delingpole-ship-of-fools-iii-global-warming-study-cancelled-because-of-unprecedented-ice/

Griff
Reply to  Russell
June 14, 2017 6:54 am

And the ice is unprecendented…
Ask yourself: how did it get there?
Freeze there? Or drift/get blown from somewhere else?
It didn’t freeze there: it comes from the central arctic where a warm winter/storms have broken up an ‘exported’ the ice. It is a symptom of a warming central arctic.

MarkW
Reply to  Russell
June 14, 2017 7:12 am

In Griff’s world, this is the first time that sea ice has EVAH moved.

Resourceguy
Reply to  Russell
June 14, 2017 8:47 am

Keep Griff away from ball fields.

Richard M
Reply to  Russell
June 14, 2017 4:02 pm

Griff, from this quote I think this ice is in Hudson Bay …
“contributions of climate change and regulation on the Hudson Bay system.”
Maybe you can explain how the ice got from the central Arctic into Hudson Bay. LOL.

Reply to  Russell
June 14, 2017 4:55 pm

The wind was so strong it blew the ice clear over the top of Baffin Island …
Seems to me this happened in early 2016 as well … Ice breakers diverted to Igloolik
Dang wind.

LdB
Reply to  Russell
June 14, 2017 8:01 pm

Wait up the ice is thicker Griff was banging on about some wiggly line on a graph and the ice was all going to be gone.
I am struggling with how it can be all gone but now it’s thicker … or is this a Griff Fact ™. Griff Facts ™ have little or no likeness to real facts.

noaaprogrammer
Reply to  Russell
June 14, 2017 8:07 pm

Obviously the freezing point of water has risen to keep apace with global warming.

Bryan A
Reply to  Russell
June 15, 2017 12:07 pm

Griff,
Considering practically ZERO (<5%) Arctic area Sea Ice is currently sitting in the exact same place that it initially froze, your arguement has no legs on which to stand. Either by Wind or Ocean Current, the Sea Ice Floes!

Leonard Lane
Reply to  Ed Zuiderwijk
June 14, 2017 2:18 pm

Excellent point Ed. Time people who want to spend our taxpayer funds, dip a little deeper into their own. Funny that most of EU can’t meet their NATO obligations but have funds for crazy global warming theories.

Reply to  Leonard Lane
June 16, 2017 12:51 pm

Last I read was that ONLY the US contributed real cash, when zer’O shuffled/stole/diverted $1B dollars to UN coffers, as he was slinking out the door. Our “partners” have contributed only pledges for some vague time in the future. If you are an eco-chondriac, please hold your breath very thightly until we are provided answers to where and to how those taxpayer funds were used.

June 14, 2017 2:24 am

Catcracking
June 14, 2017 3:04 am

“In addition to pulling out of Paris, which will not take effect until 2020, Trump has reneged on $2 billion in unpaid commitments to the Green Climate Fund (GCF),”
Trump did not renege on $2 Billion, Obama promised the money without authority. Send him the bill and let him beg from Bloomberg and his rich elite friends pay the bill for Obama false promises.

Reply to  Catcracking
June 14, 2017 5:13 am

Regardless, keep in mind that the money that Obama promised was OPM, (Other People’s Money.) I found it astounding that the American people “tolerated” the skinny little crook for eight years — But then such as Obama is what we have come to expect from the strange little parasitoid foreign country that’s called The District of Columbia. Even if Obama was really gone — which he’s not — the federal swamp that was made deeper during his terms in office is still there and is even more wasteful and useless than it ever was.

MarkW
Reply to  ThomasJK
June 14, 2017 7:14 am

The problem is that with most democracies, you quickly reach the point where the number of people getting free stuff from government outnumber the number of people who have to pay for it.

Auto
Reply to  ThomasJK
June 14, 2017 4:35 pm

Mark W
You are right – especially if those who know about magic money trees can see their path to power this way.
Exhibit one – the promise to cancel huge student debts [now they are probably at a wholly unrealistic interest rate. 6.1% – utter madness. Bank of England base rate is 0.25% – so twenty-plus times base rate.
That is real pay-day loan gougers’ country.]
Jeremy Corbyn probably won a dozen student swing-vote seats on this alone..
Why did nobody in the Magic May Circle spot this and nix it?????
Auto

Auto
Reply to  ThomasJK
June 14, 2017 4:44 pm

Sorry,
I followed the 1964 Election here (and AuH2O’s in the US), and I have to add this was the most inept campaign I have ever witnessed, by – it seems – a long way.
Michael Foot, in 1983, and Ted ‘The Traitor’ Heath, in 1974 (February and October) -campaigns that were, shall we say, able to be improved . . . . . . . .
But May 2017 – an utter (let me be polite) SHAMBLES. At best.
I try to appreciatethevicar’s daughter – but, heavens, it is not easy nowadays.
Auto

Bruce Cobb
June 14, 2017 3:42 am

The US pulling out of the “agreement” is its death-nell. They can pretend and put on a brave face all they want, but Paris is dead. COP 22 will be a farce to end all farces. There isn’t enough lipstick in the universe to paint that pig.

Roger Knights
Reply to  Bruce Cobb
June 14, 2017 4:45 am

knell
literary
noun
1. the sound of a bell, especially when rung solemnly for a death or funeral.

MarkW
Reply to  Roger Knights
June 14, 2017 7:19 am

A church deacon was standing outside his parish one day when a young man approached him and asked if he could apply for the job of bell ringer.
The deacon asked the man to demonstrate his ability at bell ringing.
The young man climbed up to the belfry and proceeded to strike the bell with his face.
The bell then rang out with the most beautiful sound the deacon had ever heard. So he called out to the young man and told him that if he could do that again he had the job.
The young man enthusiastically backed up so that this time he could get a running start.
Ran towards the bell, and missed. His momentum carried him out of the belfry and he fell to the ground and was killed.
A crowd ran up to the deacon to ask what had happened.
Who is that young man several asked.
“I don’t know” replied the deacon, “but his face sure rings a bell”.

MarkW
Reply to  Roger Knights
June 14, 2017 7:25 am

A few days later, the deacon was again approached by a young man asking for the bell ringer job. The deacon was taken aback because this man looked exactly like the man who had died earlier.
When asked, the man replied that he was the twin of the earlier applicant.
Same story, man climbs tower, rings bell with face (apparently the this skill runs in the family), gets over enthusiastic and falls to his death.
Again the crowd gathers and asks the deacon who the man was.
The deacon replies “I don’t know, but he’s a dead ringer for his brother.”

Bruce Cobb
Reply to  Roger Knights
June 14, 2017 11:06 am

D’oh! I new that!

noaaprogrammer
Reply to  Roger Knights
June 14, 2017 8:18 pm

“… Keeping time, time, time,
As he knells, knells, knells,
In a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bells–
Of the bells, bells, bells–
To the tolling of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells–
Bells, bells, bells–
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.”
(Edgar Allan Poe)

June 14, 2017 3:47 am

It’s just other people’s money. It grows on socialist trees.

Bill Murphy
Reply to  Phillip Bratby
June 14, 2017 12:30 pm

Unicorn ranching is also becoming a popular fund raiser for the left. It has the advantage of an abundant co-product useful to fertilize all those pretty green socialist trees.

June 14, 2017 4:19 am

No surprise here. This was all about money and power from the get-go. I would bet that M. Mann never really believed that CO2 was going to fry us all anyway. (if you could get an honest answer out of the old liar)

noaaprogrammer
Reply to  markstoval
June 14, 2017 8:27 pm

Yeah – just like all the others – e.g. James Hansen & Tim Wirth, who turned off the air conditioning before testifying before congress about global warming.

June 14, 2017 4:33 am

Oh no. Third world dictators may have to cut back on their Bentleys and London prostitutes.

Tom in Florida
June 14, 2017 4:42 am

“Climate finance experts fear it could be a sign of further cuts to other programs that depend on American resources.”
1. What the freak is a “climate finance expert”?
(Perhaps better questions are: How do I get to be one and how much does it pay?)
2. American resources = American MONEY. (It sounds less greedy to say resources.)

Greg
Reply to  Tom in Florida
June 14, 2017 4:50 am

It’s not just money they want, it’s free transfer of IP too.

June 14, 2017 4:47 am

Just think of those very deserving environmental economics majors who will lose their jobs at the NGO’s. A group every bit as pitiful and useful as the WaBenzi in third world countries who will not be getting a new car this year./s

Bill Illis
June 14, 2017 5:38 am

It is darn hard to find out any actual information for the Green Climate Fund. Most links are dead. Links that take you anywhere are a bureaucratic nightmare process document.
Not a single dime was given to any project up to the end of 2015. Quarterly financial statements are not available.
Reuters reports yesterday, that the Green Climate Fund has only disbursed $13 million to projects so far (2016 I imagine)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-fund-idUSKBN1940K9
This is looking more and more like a slush fund that managers and board members are slow-walking in bureaucratic nightmares while they figure out ways to get their own “commissions” out of the projects.
$1 million given to a Mongolian commercial bank? Does that sound like something on the up and up?
$1 million to protect the Peruvian rainforest? How would that project actually work?

Bill Illis
Reply to  Bill Illis
June 14, 2017 5:49 am

Oh and here’s one for you.
The adjusted administrative budget for 2017 is $46,784,071 .
Really. That would bring the administrative costs up to $100 million in its first 4 years and only $13 million spent on projects.??

Reply to  Bill Illis
June 14, 2017 11:41 am

Sounds like they share an accountant with the Clinton Foundation.

noaaprogrammer
Reply to  Bill Illis
June 14, 2017 8:34 pm

Yes, globalism spawns fraud on a global scale. With every country around the globe in on the fraud, there’s no one left to oversee or prosecute.

Herbert
June 14, 2017 6:06 am

Like other readers,I am trying to find out what my country’s ” international obligations” actually are under the Paris Agreement.
I know what the emissions targets are but it is difficult to ascertain how much money we are obligated to pay to the Green Climate Fund now that the US has departed.
Australia appears to have paid or committed to pay some A$ 200 million.
Frankly I suspect that the Australian government does not presently know the extent of its monetary obligations but am happy to be proved wrong.

Bruce Cobb
Reply to  Herbert
June 14, 2017 7:20 am

Better pay up. They want their money:

JohnWho
June 14, 2017 7:12 am

Let me get this straight “Climate progress” won’t slow because the US isn’t cutting CO2 emissions, it will slow because the US isn’t sending money to other countries.
Wish I was smart enough to figure out the message in that statement.

johchi7
June 14, 2017 7:44 am

Now I get it… ISIS, Hezbollah and all those Islamic Terrorist are just fighting Climate Change by reducing the Global Population that are causing Anthropogenic Global Warming.

johchi7
June 14, 2017 7:44 am

Now I get it… ISIS, Hezbollah and all those Islamic Terrorist are just fighting Climate Change by reducing the Global Population that are causing Anthropogenic Global Warming.

nn
June 14, 2017 7:50 am

Progress is unqualified monotonic change.

June 14, 2017 8:12 am

Interestingly, I cannot seem to easily find information that says clearly, in a straightforward manner, where exactly Green Climate Fund money might be destined to go, once it is contributed. I find this strange, since all manner of links lead to clear information about who is GIVING money to the fund.
I found an even more detailed listing (than the contributing author gives) of (what I think) are designated potential receivers of the funds. Here’s that link: https://www.greenclimate.fund/documents/20182/318991/NDA_and_Focal_Point_nominations_for_the_Green_Climate_Fund.pdf/eeace75b-aa59-489c-8914-c0940debe01f
And yeah, notice specific contact emails for the troublesome countries that the contributing author mentioned.
There seem to be so many ways the money could get mishandled that I cannot imagine who, in their right mind, would give a dime to the damn thing. Okay, say, by some chance, a designated amount makes it to the contact in Syria. Do you REALLY feel comfortable that the money would be used for its formally designated purpose? … Now multiply this uneasiness, especially when it comes to countries in Africa — the most politically corrupt continent in the world.
What’s WRONG with people ?!