Essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Dr Willie Soon; Professor Ralph Schoellhammer slamming the cruel Western policy of coercing Africans embrace renewables, while refusing finance for zero carbon nuclear power and fossil fuel.
Climate Activism—Not Climate Change—Is the Real Racist Force. Africans Deserve Electricity | Opinion
RALPH SCHOELLHAMMER , ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE AT WEBSTER UNIVERSITY, VIENNA
ON 6/13/23 AT 8:00 AM EDT…
We are often told that the climate crisis will be the main cause for future food shortages and a global upsurge in migration streams. But the truth is these crisis are more likely to be caused by climate policies than by climate change.
For example, the World Bank has announced a major initiative to electrify Africa with renewables—a notoriously unreliable and intermittent source of electricity—while simultaneously refusing to support the use of nuclear energy, the most reliable form of electricity production. This matters, on many fronts.
…
This need will not be satisfied by renewables, and while bored Western millionaires celebrate global underinvestment in oil and gas projects, it is the developing world that has to pay the price.
Don’t believe me? When the energy crisis of 2022 revealed that the end of fossil fuels is nowhere near, countries like Germany bought up every morsel of energy at any price in the global markets (while simultaneously firing up the coal power plants) and outbid countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, causing blackouts, riots, and misery for the latter two.
…
Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/climate-activismnot-climate-change-real-racist-force-africans-deserve-electricity-opinion-1806115
Professor Schoellhammer’s recent articles include Climate Activism isn’t about the planet, its about the boredom of the elites, and Russia is Europe’s Problem, Not America’s. The U.S. Should Cut Europe Loose.
As WUWT recently covered, not even the German Green Party can make their absurd green ideas work, on their own party headquarters. But this doesn’t stop clueless Western greens from using every lever within reach to mess up the lives of Africans, coercing Africa to embrace technologies which have failed in the West.
One day Africa will get ahead, and there will be a reckoning for these decades of abuse. Africa will pull themselves out of poverty, despite the West. Gigantic fossil fuel projects are starting to appear in Africa, despite the ongoing disguised opposition of Western elites to African economic development. African industrial development will soon follow the increased availability of reliable energy.
Any chance we can clone you Professor Schoellhammer? If we had a few thousand academics who think like Schoellhammer, a lot of the problems with today’s society would disappear in a decade.
Gee, I wonder who might be ready, willing and able (at least for now) to provide financing for reliable energy facilities? Probably eager to build them for you as well, though there may be strings attached. How unprecedented and mind numbing is the stupidity of our WEF influenced “ruling class” ?
“Our WEF influenced ruling class” might not be the ones who’d pay.
President Obama, in a town hall meeting with young African leaders, said, “Ultimately, if you think about all the youth that everybody’s mentioned here in Africa, if everybody’s raising living standards to the point where everybody’s got a car, and everybody’s got air conditioning, and everybody’s got a big house, uh, well, the planet will boil over.” He went on to tell those kids that if they wanted to get out of poverty, they would have to figure out some way to do it without using energy dense fuels, and it was their problem, not the first world’s problem.
The Great Obomba has spoken….let it be written….let it be done. However, he is only 1/.2 black…..so only pay 1/2 attention to him? Obomba and Biden…..what a combo disaster!
Obama is half black, and Biden’s a half wit.
In the mean time, his good buddies in the Chinese Communist Party are planning to construct around 50 more coal fired plants in China.
Good report from Professor Schoellhammer. The only large energy (and infrastructure) programs in Africa, from outside sources, are the Chinese Belt and Road loan programs, now active in at least 52 of the 54 African countries. Not only will Africa experience slow development of energy grids, but are at constant threat of seizing assets posted as collatoral for the loans. Who is going to “save” Africa? Environmentalists? Green energy? United Nations? Themselves? Nobody?
The Chinese have a record of accepting foreign ‘partners’ to fund and build things, then kicking out said partners and effectively stealing the assets. Remember a certain biological research facility in Wuhan which was built with French assistance – what happened to the French once the last lick of paint was dry? Thames Water built a large wastewater treatment works in China on a design/build/operate basis and were kicked out as soon as it was commissioned. And don’t think the Chinese courts will help when this happens. So the African countries accepting Chinese money have a Chinese model for future behaviour; get the assets built and then evict the Chinese. Not pretty, but what’s good for the goose is good for the gander…
The Chinese “Noose & Gallows” program will bleed Africa red – not green.
Hard to think of a policy more likely to drive African countries into the arms of the Chinese.
When the term “The West” is used, it really is a business model pushed by huge investment groups like Blackrock, State Street, and Vanguard. If they refuse to finance Africa, the BRICCS states will take over (this is already taking place). It will depend on how much power the “big three” have over the economies of the BRICCS states, but I suppose it is considerably less than over the “western economies”.
I say “The West” because there doesn’t seem to be a more polite way to say “places I expect will have indoor plumbing and good cell coverage”.
“not even the German Green Party can make their absurd green ideas work”
Germany, like it or not, is no longer a run of the mill European nation.
You can’t compare it to any other European nation, no other European nation has had the post war treatment Germany is still receiving, for a start.
We know Wilson’s 14 points turned out to be a huge mistake in the end. We’re now discovering you really can overdo the political purification etc after 70 years and more of it. That’s quite a few generations.
The WW2 generation is “passing”.
Comment says:”…no other European nation has had the post war treatment Germany is still receiving, for a start.”
Germany was the the economic leader of Europe for years. It was an industrial power. So can you please explain what your comment is referring to.
Two things here: 1) Professors tend to be ideological bomb throwers for fun and notoriety and 2) African leaders (and Pakistan) have a long history of blaming others for its problems.
At one point, much to the distaste of the West and especially the Greenes, Africa will lean towards China for power projects. The Chinese will provide finance for coal and where available natural gas power stations, also possibly nuclear plants.
The West and Greenes will be pushed to the wastebasket.
China will then own these nations that take up the options.
It is not just a Belt and Road Initiative; but a Belt, Road and We Own Initiative, China looks towards.
The West especially the USA is a sleep at the wheel again…
Look at a world map. Here’s where you might see that while USA is a member of “The West”, it is not in the same position as Europe.
It is a perfectly proper role of government to fund the development of science and promising technologies which might otherwise struggle to obtain private funding in their early years.
======
No. The role of government is not to pick winners and losers as this opens the economy up to massive corruption and cronyism.
Look at Canada. Having driven out foreign investment the super green loonies party now in power is paying VW more than $ 4 million per job to build a battery factory. Interest alone could pay the wages of twice the number of workers rhe plant will employ.
And now, having seen this giveaway, other companies, Canadian companies as well, are threatening to leave Canada if they don’t get the same benefits.
All of which ends up funded by the taxpayer, who receive no share of the equity and all of the risk.
“Interest alone could pay the wages of twice the number of workers [the] plant will employ.”
Depends what rate the Canadians are paying. Also, they may foresee a competitive devaluation race with their big neighbor.
I’m not sure about Africa as a whole, but Nigeria has been busy building oil refineries to make use of their ample supply of relatively low-sulfur “Bonny Light” crude, and the government has been actively promoting the development of private refining companies in Nigeria.
The Nigerian government decided to stop selling their crude to “green” Europe, and start refining it to provide for the energy needs of their own people, and the needs of neighboring countries. By extension, these refineries provide hundreds of high-paying jobs to skilled Nigerians able to run the refineries.
When are the “green” Europeans going to learn from the smarter Nigerians?
I think the correct answer to that question is: Never!
“The Nigerian government decided to stop selling their crude to” … the highest bidder? That can’t last.
This might seem over simplistic but I am sensing a lot of of parallels between “ the rise and fall” of the great society’s of the past and our current situations. And the population goes about their daily lives as if they are invulnerable. Until the “ barbarians “ are crashing down the gates.
Now define who is “our” and who are the barbarians at the gate?
I see sidewalk sleepers with airpods in Phoenix.
I read Jaques Barzun’s last massive Western History book that said “we” were in a time of decadence that has historically meant collapse … in 2000.
His thesis was not Malthusian, I’m not sure if it has a name for it – I’ll just keep kicking the can and hoping.
“…while refusing finance for zero carbon nuclear power … countries … bought up every morsel of energy … outbid countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, causing blackouts, riots, and misery …”
I’m a nuclear power advocate, but that isn’t an environment into which I want to deploy nuclear power. As a form of foreign aid, lets finance nuclear power in the countries doing the outbidding, and deploy some of the shuttered coal capacity in countries suffering blackouts, riots, and misery.
The topic is difficult to address without hurting feelings.
If I were African, I’d be producing as much coal & gas as possible, for internal growth and to sell to the West at triple price once the nut zero balloon bursts
And this is the very crux of the matter. The origins of the Climate Hobgoblin were cooked up in the back rooms of the UN by paid bureaucrats working for the global elites when they looked at the state of our natural resources in the late 80’s, the world population, and the resources required to lift 3rd world countries out of poverty.
So they cooked up this notion that people from 3rd world countries will always be oppressed because of white middle class America and that is how they would save the planet. By pulling the plug on the global middle class mostly residing in “Merica.” With the unspoken reality that nobody gets lifted up but we will make things fair by making the middle class poor.
Downvoted because of word use: “paid bureaucrats“. Are there Unpaid bureaucrats? It would read as trolling, even if it weren’t. Then there’s the danger built into the general topic. Be careful.
Kevin,
There is not one example that I can recall, of a bureaucrat posting a comment on WUWT in response to what seems like thousands of criticisms of bureaucrats.
So we have all these bureaucrats intruding on our lives, doing acts that they are desperately shy to justify.
Is there anything like a “International Journal of Bureaucratic Procedures” or similar?
How do these armies of bureaucrats swap notes, compare their best and worst efforts with each other and so on? Is there a Secret Society?
The most I have seen of bureaucratic accountability in Australia is the interchange between politicians and bureaucrats in Estimates Committee hearings. Sometimes there is a useful, needed answer, but often we get a mix of bureaucratic disdain-speech about pollies and an arrogance that says “I am always so correct that I do not have to answer your stupid questions”.
What is the scene when the junior bureaucrat comes home from work soon after 4.36pm knock-off? “Hello, dear, another good day at the office?” “You bet! Spent the morning doing absolutely nothing, then the afternoon writing up the KPI results for success in doing nothing.”
The senior bureaucrats say much the same, but delete “nothing” and insert “harm to free enterprise”. Geoff S
Certainly, Minister.
Are there Unpaid bureaucrats?
Ever been part of a volunteer organization of any size? (Or an HOA?)
Not helping Africa develop its fossil fuel resources for themselves to use because of climate change is reprehensible.
Not only is climate not harming them, CO2 is likely responsible for much of the little development it’s had.
https://twitter.com/aaronshem/status/1661856530461761536
The near eradication of malaria was a blackswan event. What happened was that economies developed at the same time that DDT was invented. The development of the middle class allowed people to sleep in separate bedrooms, screened windows became common, and effective pesticides all happened at the same time. You need economic development to truly control malaria.
https://twitter.com/aaronshem/status/1669459933664886789?s=46&t=uaJknHY-4wDA2Gpdpl6pbw
This is in no way about “boredom” of the elites. That’s a very silly statement in an otherwise good story.
No, it’s about control and power, plain and simple.