Morano OpEd: ‘Trump effect’ undermines U.N. climate summit: COP29’s failure is great news for humanity

From CLIMATE DEPOT

By Marc Morano

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/dec/24/trump-effect-undermines-u-n-climate-summit

By Marc Morano – 

The 2024 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, recently wrapped up. The summit can be summed up in one phrase: The orange man derailed it.

The election of former President Donald Trump a few days before the Conference of the Parties, known as COP29, began had a profound impact on zapping any potential success from the summit. The Times of London wrote that the “wind was taken out of [COP29’s] sails before it even started with the election of climate-skeptic Donald Trump in the U.S.”

The disillusionment of COP29’s attendees was palpable. No major Western leaders bothered to show up in Baku except the U.K.’s newly minted prime minister, Keir Starmer.


‘Total waste of time’

The supposedly sinking Pacific island nations could not even muster up enthusiasm for COP29 as the nation of Papua New Guinea boycotted the confab, declaring it a “total waste of time.”

France boycotted attending COP29. Politico reported, “The French climate minister’s withdrawal means Paris will not send any high-level political representative to Baku, as French President Emmanuel Macron will also skip the event.” Oui oui!

Oil is a ‘gift of God’

It gets better. In what can be described only as the “Trump effect,” Argentina withdrew its negotiators from the summit after President Javier Milei held talks with Mr. Trump; Argentina’s entire team was ordered home.

“We have instructions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to no longer participate,” Argentina’s top environmental official told The Guardian.

There’s more.

The opening day of the U.N. climate summit featured Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s president, declaring oil a “gift of God” and said people need oil. As you can imagine, Mr. Aliyev’s invoking God to defend the use of oil enraged and demoralized the attendees of COP29.

The BBC reported on the oily mess, noting in a headline: “UN climate talks ‘no longer fit for purpose’ say key experts.”

U.N. officials turn on — the U.N.

The COP process needs “an urgent overhaul,” according to an open letter by the former U.N. secretary-general, the former U.N. climate chief and other U.N. supporters, the BBC reported. The erstwhile U.N. officials demanded that “countries should not host the talks if they don’t support the phase-out of fossil energy.”

Former Vice President Al Gore agreed, saying: “I think that there should be a test for who is qualified to be a delegate to these COPs. Are they coming to try to find a solution or are they coming in order to block a solution?”

In other words, censor and ban any nation from the U.N. climate process that dissents in any way from the U.N. agenda. They appear to want to run the U.N. climate summits like a “woke”  social media platform.

‘Worst U.N. climate summit’ ever!

COP29 was initially billed as the COP finance summit. The original $100 billion-a-year climate slush fund was pledged to increase to $300 billion a year. But no one seemed happy about these “pledges.”

The Times of London reported on the utter failure of the summit. “Cop29 was described by veteran negotiators as the worst UN climate summit they had experienced.”

And here’s one more scoop from CNN: “COP29 was described by climate activists as ‘an insult, a joke and a betrayal. … A conference of chaos.”

A fake dead whale

One final bizarre note: COP29 featured a dead fake whale made of what appeared to be petroleum-based products on display in downtown Baku. The fake whale carcass had a backdrop of COP29’s neon messaging on a building, complete with a windmill. Just to be clear, the climate activists who sponsored this fake dead whale stunt believed that climate change is a threat to whales — and windmills will somehow save the whales.

No irony is lost in the fact that since the rapid ascent of offshore wind, deaths of actual whales have skyrocketed.

As with every U.N. climate summit, many studies are timed to be released in the weeks and days before the conference to maximize the alleged importance of the U.N.’s mission. This year’s round of studies was quite humorous. A study in the journal Lancet claimed that “Climate change is causing sleep loss.”

Not to be outdone, a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Environment, Development and Sustainability actually claimed that “climate change is encouraging unsanitary toilet practices among vulnerable communities.” How? “Climate change makes toilets more likely to break, which leaves people more likely to ‘go’ outside.’”

Remember: Don’t ever question “the science”!

Meat tax for thee

The conference featured prominent speeches calling for meat rationing and a global “meat tax” to limit “cow emissions.” Willem Branten of the group True Animal Protein Price Coalition called for meat taxes “so that we can pay for the damages done by our past consumption of meat and animal proteins.”

The U.N. was full of meat hypocrisy as delegates chowed down on beef, chicken and hot dogs at the restaurants and food courts of COP29.

As Mr. Trump prepares to return to the White House, we must remember: The failure of a U.N. climate summit is great news for humanity!

• Marc Morano manages the award-winning ClimateDepot.com news and information service. He served as a reporter for Rush Limbaugh’s television show and as a senior adviser to Sen. James Inhofe.

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Tom Halla
December 27, 2024 6:13 pm

Vegans are one of the groups as self righteous and unthinking as climatistas, so when one combines them,. . .

John Hultquist
Reply to  Tom Halla
December 27, 2024 6:54 pm

Given a choice, I’d rather lunch with a vegan.

Reply to  John Hultquist
December 27, 2024 7:16 pm

So long as I can have a steak if I want to. 🙂

And so long as they don’t yabber on about veganism.

abolition man
Reply to  John Hultquist
December 27, 2024 8:36 pm

I don’t know, John. Given the mounting evidence that a diet lacking in animal fats and proteins leads to early dementia; apparently, sometimes as early as one’s 20s or 30s; I’d be leery of engaging in a conversation with either one!
Better to address one of the models, you might get lucky and find one that is within a few AU of Planet Earth!

Sapper2
Reply to  abolition man
December 27, 2024 11:56 pm

All you have to do is watch pictures of those that attended, and listen to their sentences to witness humans in decline.

Richard Greene
Reply to  abolition man
December 28, 2024 3:21 am

“Given the mounting evidence that a diet lacking in animal fats and proteins leads to early dementia; apparently, sometimes as early as one’s 20s or 30s;”

Total BS
Just the opposite has been found with studies

Several medical organizations have recommended a plant-based diet to optimize cognitive health and potentially prevent dementia. There is some evidence to support that recommendation. There is zero evidence to support your false claim, You are a BS Artist, Stage IV.

Lin: THE IMPACT OF A PLANT-BASED DIETARY PATTERN… – Google Scholar

List of related articles:
Lin: THE IMPACT OF A PLANT-BASED DIETARY PATTERN… – Google Scholar

Mr.
Reply to  John Hultquist
December 27, 2024 9:36 pm

Q: How do you know someone is a vegan?
A: They’ll tell you, even without being asked.

Reply to  John Hultquist
December 28, 2024 12:04 am

I certainly wouldn’t. I know a number of vegans, and they are usually narcissistic, passive-aggressive bores.

Bob
December 27, 2024 6:17 pm

The UN climate summit can do or say whatever they want, they are liars and cheats, pay no attention to them.

Len Werner
December 27, 2024 6:33 pm

Is this not the definition of a House of Cards? There are over 8 Billion people on this planet; if changing the status of just one of them causes the entire multi-million dollar spectacle to spectacularly fail, can this entire Climate Change agenda be anything but a mirage?

mleskovarsocalrrcom
December 27, 2024 6:47 pm

The wheels are slowly falling off. Expect new narratives supporting AGW although I don’t think there can be much left after “Climate change makes toilets more likely to break”. One of the best things that came out of the USA elections is the fact that people no longer trust the MSM which is the prime driver of AGW.

John Hultquist
December 27, 2024 6:52 pm

First I heard of the artistic whale. They did a nice job of that. Pictures of the work are on the web. The effort and cost could have provided Vitamin A to hundreds, maybe thousands of children. That would be a different sort of “sight”.

Ed Zuiderwijk
Reply to  John Hultquist
December 28, 2024 5:25 am

The display also forgot to mention that the whales were saved by the world switching from whale oil to mineral oil in the first part of the 20th century.

December 27, 2024 8:09 pm

The cartoon is correct. Money is the REAL goal of COPs – to corral as much as possible.
So, naturally, the states expecting the usual cornucopia disgorging money were disappointed.
The main money themes of the unchanging ENEGIEWENDE are shown in the attached graphic, originally from Bloomberg (2024). I added notations and the data from the IEA for power grid expenditures from 2015-2019. The main components, totally nearly 2 $trillion in 2023, were ~40% for battery EVs, ~30% for renewable energy, and just under 20% for the transmission grid which has ramped up quickly in the past two decades; the remainder was for various bits, such as heat pumps, etc. The graph shows that the effort is transmission/consumption, not in production, of energy – by a ratio of 7 to 3. Oddly, the huge expenditure in power grids is little discussed. The curtain is drawn over grids maybe because a grid is 5-8X worse than a corresponding expenditure in pipelines for carrying energy. Can’t have fossil fuels look good!
Just as the GREAT ENEGIEWENDE, most of the transfer of wealth is a waste of money.

global-investment-in-aspects-of-renewable-energy
Jeff Alberts
Reply to  whsmith@wustl.edu
December 27, 2024 8:36 pm

Still bolding, I see.

MarkW
Reply to  Jeff Alberts
December 27, 2024 10:59 pm

Probably some kind of self worth issue on his part.

Randle Dewees
Reply to  whsmith@wustl.edu
December 27, 2024 8:51 pm

Jeff has a point – I find myself skipping over your posts, I find it somewhat jarring reading a large paragraph of bolded words.

MarkW
Reply to  Randle Dewees
December 27, 2024 11:00 pm

It’s like typing in all caps, it’s just an attempt to draw attention to ones self.
If you don’t have enough confidence in your words to convey your message, try bolding it to draw attention anyway.

Richard Greene
Reply to  Randle Dewees
December 28, 2024 3:30 am

Bold font is easier to read and I wish everyone would use it all the time. Complaining about the bold font, and/or character attacking the author, is a not very clever strategy for ignoring the content of a comment.

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  Richard Greene
December 28, 2024 7:05 am

Get some glasses, maybe?

abolition man
December 27, 2024 8:36 pm

It is indeed interesting that as studies and evidence for a low carb/high fat diet, consisting of large quantities of meat and seafood, continue to accumulate across the social media sphere; our dear leaders are becoming ever more intent on stifling meat consumption for everyone but themselves!
Are they already aware of the strong correlation between increased protein consumption, and higher brain development in children? What about the use of the LC/HF keto diet for reversing diabetes, dementia, and heart disease? Do they simply want to keep us as sick, dumb, and lazy as possible?
Nah, they’d never do something as evil and shortsighted as that!

Jeff Alberts
December 27, 2024 8:37 pm

This year’s round of studies was quite humorous. A study in the journal Lancet claimed that “Climate change is causing sleep loss.””

All one has to do with the titles of any of these studies is add “Alarmism” after climate change, and they suddenly become true.

Richard Greene
December 28, 2024 3:08 am

It is unlikely that Trump winning an election, first known on November 6, caused any national leaders to cancel their plans to attend COP29 whose first day was November 11, 2024.
The leaders would have traveled to COP29 no later than November 10, just four days after the Trump victory was known

What makes more sense, is that COP29 was intended to raise a lot of money, and that goal kept many leaders away.

COP meetings are mainly virtue signaling, with about 175 of 195 nations not interested in reducing CO2 emissions (only three nations refused to joined COP).

The annual global CO2 emissions have been in a gradually rising trend since the first COP meeting in March1995. Perhaps the COP meeting should end with the goal of lower CO2 emissions from fewer long distance private jet flights.

Reply to  Richard Greene
December 28, 2024 8:24 am

I don’t know. Trump lives rent-free in so many small, fearful minds in the activist community that I would not discount the effect so casually. Just look at the statement from the Sierra Club. Your point about the fundraising aspect is correct of course, the US being the biggest pinata of the bunch. With that target withdrawn, it is not to be wondered that the other suckers ducked out so as not to be the ones left for the big stick.

December 28, 2024 3:12 am

The opening day of the U.N. climate summit featured Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s president, declaring oil a “gift of God” and said people need oil. As you can imagine, Mr. Aliyev’s invoking God to defend the use of oil enraged and demoralized the attendees of COP29.

…because they’re all hypocrites. Remy said it best:

December 28, 2024 3:55 am

From the article: “It gets better. In what can be described only as the “Trump effect,” Argentina withdrew its negotiators from the summit after President Javier Milei held talks with Mr. Trump; Argentina’s entire team was ordered home.

“We have instructions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to no longer participate,” Argentina’s top environmental official told The Guardian.”

Thanks for clearing that up. I was wondering why Argentina suddenly withdrew from the conference.

It made me laugh when I found out Trump was involved. 🙂

I hear Milei is doing a pretty good job with Argentina’s economy. He looks like a “Keeper”.

Reply to  Tom Abbott
December 28, 2024 8:24 am

Milei is working wonders in Argentina after only a year – inflation right down, government finances in surplus, Argentine Peso stable against the US Dollar. Shrinking the State and eliminating waste really works.

Of course, the Left hates him.

December 28, 2024 4:04 am

These Climate Alarmists are always complaining about Trump and blaming him for everything under the sun, but they never mention China or India or any of the other nations that are increasing their production of CO2 on a daily basis.

Global CO2 levels are increasing, not decreasing, and it has nothing to do with Donald Trump and everything to do with China, India and many other nations who are not reducing their CO2 outputs.

The good news is that there is no evidence that CO2 is anything other than a benign gas, essential for life on Earth, so if CO2 increases, so what?

Reply to  Tom Abbott
December 28, 2024 5:53 am

Trump? The guy who doesn’t read at all? And he’s your idol?

Reply to  Warren Beeton
December 28, 2024 8:25 am

Still in shock are we?

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  Warren Beeton
December 28, 2024 8:39 am

Do you accept Peer Reviewed science which doesn’t agree with the manufactured consensus?

Reply to  Jeff Alberts
December 28, 2024 11:13 am

Sure. You got any?

Reply to  Warren Beeton
December 28, 2024 4:15 pm

8 Taiwanese Engineers Determine The Climate Sensitivity To A 300 ppm CO2 Increase Is ‘Negligibly Small’

tripling atmospheric CO2 from 100 ppm to 400 ppm produces a “negligibly small” 0.3°C warming effect. This temperature change is only associated with the increase from 100 ppm to 350 ppm and includes no additional warming as CO2 rises from 350 ppm to 400 ppm.

I’ll repeat that last bit for you since comprehension is not something you have.

no additional warming as CO2 rises from 350 ppm to 400 ppm.

Reply to  bnice2000
December 28, 2024 4:16 pm

Ah yes. Another bit of junk amateur science for digestion by the gullible bnice.

Reply to  Warren Beeton
December 28, 2024 4:48 pm

ROFLMAO.. So peer-review means absolutely nothing to you.

You poor scientifically illiterate moron.

Reply to  Warren Beeton
December 28, 2024 4:18 pm

I should also add that you seem to be totally incapable of finding any empirical peer-review to answer these questions.

Care to try again, or slither away like a little worm, as is your usual MO.

1… Please provide empirical scientific evidence of warming by atmospheric CO2.

2… Please show the evidence of CO2 warming in the UAH atmospheric data.

Reply to  Warren Beeton
December 28, 2024 4:13 pm

TRUMP WON.. in all 4 facets, President, House, Senate, total vote.

Try not to get beetroot stains on your shirt, petal !.

Trump reads and understand more than you will ever be capable of, because your mind is sinking in Marxist sludge.

Ed Zuiderwijk
December 28, 2024 5:20 am

Much of the top brass was indeed absent. Except, of course, a certain K Starmer, UK’s PM, accompanied by his side-kick Miliband, who as Dumb and Dumber happily wafted away billions of UK taxpayers moneys, bestowing this largesse on countries of which the representatives by their all too evident weightiness revealed that the donations were not really needed. It will come back to haunt them.

Dave Andrews
December 28, 2024 7:25 am

Why should Aliyev believe “Oil is a gift of god”?

Well fossil fuels, including one of the world’s largest gas fields, Shah Deniz in the Caspian Sea, provide almost half of the country’s GDP, more than half of the government’s revenue and over 90% of Azerbaijan’s export earnings.

Without fossil fuels Azerbaijan would not be flourishing.

lazosvetlo
December 28, 2024 8:07 am

Perhaps a rename is in order: Chaos Of Parties 29 comes to mind.

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  lazosvetlo
December 28, 2024 8:47 am

Copout of Parties.

Edward Katz
December 28, 2024 2:51 pm

Even without Trump, these COPs were steadily losing credibility as the hypocrisy of the delegates was consistently revealed. They denounced aircraft emissions; yet thousands of them flew in. They advocated against consumption of meat, but in one form or another consumed it at all their meals. They warned against the ill effects of a changing climate, while their countries continued to burn fossil fuels as their primary energy sources. They cautioned against rising emissions, but few if any of them could boast that their countries were making appreciable reductions in them. In other words, all talk and no action, so it’s no wonder these conferences have been written off as what was predicted of them after the first ones produced few results; i.e. nothing more than gabfests where the delegates knew they didn’t have to produce any positive results but where they couldn’t pass up a free trip.

Reply to  Edward Katz
December 29, 2024 4:27 am

You have to suspect that many of the moths were attracted to the flames of the night life away from domestic scrutiny.

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