By Robert Bradley Jr.
“… has the entire ‘Climate Change’ and Net Zero agendas now moved far away from true environmentalism? And has it forgotten the true sustainability principles of ‘People, Planet and Profit’ to become primarily focussed on one ‘P’ (profit)?” ( – Adrian Hayes, below)
The transparent failure last month of COP30 has been acknowledged by the realists and downplayed by the hangers-on and funding-needy NGOs. Despite the futile, wasteful cause, plans for COP31 have begun.
But realism has become mainstream. And hard questions are being asked. Consider this from Adrian Hayes:
Trigger warning! I’ve spoken at a COP conference two years ago (COP28) and know there’s a lot of good stuff, and developing technology, that takes place on the fringes. But as COP30 finished last week in Brazil, it yet again caused an accusation of hypocrisy.
Over 50,000 delegates travelled to a conference facility built by flattening an area of Amazon rain forest, destroying many farmers’ livelihoods in the process, to hear speakers preach about ‘saving the planet’. Over 400 flew there by private jet – some journalists comparing it to a Cannes Film Festival. And indigenous Amazon tribes even stormed the conference on 11 Nov to protest against exploitation of the rain forests!
The critical thinking questions are: has the entire ‘Climate Change’ and Net Zero agendas now moved far away from true environmentalism? And has it forgotten the true sustainability principles of ‘People, Planet and Profit’ to become primarily focussed on one ‘P’ (profit)?
The stark realities are that ‘climate change’ didn’t cause 99% of the environmental issues we face today. And true environmentalism means reducing the deteriorating pollution in our air – not for ‘climate change’ reasons, but to limit the harms it is causing per se today. It means reducing pollution and waste in our oceans, seas, lakes, rivers and other waters, and protecting our marine life. It means eliminating micro-plastics that are now embedded in our food chain. Reducing pollution and waste on our land. Limiting resource depletion. Protecting all natural habitats, including rain forests, protecting bio-diversity and farmland – not covering it over with resource intensive solar panels. And a lot more.
The COP conferences do address some of these. But much is largely ignored on the altar–-and billions of dollars of subsidies–of ‘Net Zero’ alone…
About the most optimistic statement came from a week-one participant: “Made a few good moves [what?] but we’re yet to tackle the elephant in all the rooms. Fossil fuel phase out.”
Other observations went down from there.
JC Scott (eco designer) pushed back to the rosy view of Kara Hurst, chief sustainability officer at Amazon:
Hurst: Energized. Determined. Hopeful. That’s how I feel leaving COP30 in Belém. Why? Because being in that large gathering of other business leaders, policy makers and advocates made it clear: the climate commitments we’ve made are now translating into action, all around the world.
Scott: People spending well intentioned donations on jet travel producing platitudes that simply proliferate the fossil fuels hegemoney over world governance? I’m glad for you that you feel good but as an environmentalist since 1970, I see COP as an antidote to meaningful change.
Sam Jackson, Director, Climate Science & Impact at Ecologi, wrote:
I saw a disorganised and chaotic conference, with heavy-handed, militarised security. There was broken AC in 34ºC heat, and flooded pavilions when the downpours came. The failure of climate leadership from the US federal government was an elephant in every single room. The COP Presidency calls this the COP of truth, the COP of forests, the cradle of the Global Mutirão – and yet the SBSTA failed to endorse IPCC science, Indigenous forest guardians are violently excluded, and 1 in every 25 delegates is a fossil fuel lobbyist.
On Sunday the Blue Zone entrance courtyard (where we recorded this video) was lively – full of delegates, selfie-takers and journalists. By Friday the same space had totally changed. It was now tense: full of military police, riot shields and army trucks. And swelteringly hot, with no shade whatsoever.
Amy Westervelt (Drilled) opined:
I’m just back from COP30 in Belém and it is making me feel crazy to watch so many climate advocates and reporters declare the final text coming out of it a victory…. And yet, the text is being declared a win because it reaffirmed commitments to the Paris Agreement, created the Just Transition Mechanism (without operationalizing it), and mentioned financing adaptation…while failing to outline how that will work and leaving out finance for loss and damage altogether.
A Guardian headline declared that the COP30 deal “inches closer” to the end of the fossil era, and I saw post after post from climate advocates in my feed celebrating either the inclusion of information integrity or just transition or both.
Nowhere was there mention of the grotesque displays of racism and homophobia in the closing plenary from the Russia-Saudi-India bloc that succeeded in stripping fossil fuel phaseout from the text and attempted to shame the negotiators from Colombia and Panama for objecting to it. Perhaps more to the point, nowhere was there mention that inching forward at a time when great leaps are needed is not a win.
Which left me wondering: what is the point of activism that celebrates hypocrisy? Or of journalism that doesn’t tell the whole truth
Westervelt ended:
The mess of COP highlights once again the importance of both climate litigation and civil disobedience in this moment. If governments are going to continue to dither as the climate crisis worsens and to let fossil fuel executives poison our air, water, and atmosphere with impunity, the only recourse citizens have left is the courts, which are overwhelmingly siding with humanity’s right to live over industry’s right to profit, and the streets. Speaking of which, this week we’ll be bringing you the last two episodes of season 14 on exactly those two topics, with experts who will share what’s working. Keep demanding the actual truth, people!
Climate litigation? That’s losing where it matters most: in the producing countries, leaving the politicized countries with energy poverty for the masses. Civil disobedience? Good luck with that–the hammer has already been thrown down on that one.
Here’s a concise, fictional description of why COP30 is a failure:
1. Major emitters refused to increase their 2030 targets, leaving global ambitions unchanged.
2. Negotiators failed to agree on a binding fossil-fuel phase-out timeline.
3. Climate finance commitments fell far short of developing countries’ expectations.
4. The Loss and Damage fund remained underfunded and stalled by procedural disputes.
5. Adaptation targets were watered down after intense lobbying.
6. Civil society groups were sidelined, raising concerns about transparency.
7. Forest-related pledges were vague and lacked enforcement mechanisms.
8. The final declaration was perceived as symbolic rather than transformative.
Readers get the point. Failure after failure with climate alarmism in retreat intellectually and politically. When will the climate parishioners question the hand that feeds them? The Climate Industrial Complex … the cronies of political capitalism and the central planners (China).
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The annual COPfest has been predictable for 5 years, ever since the China-led BRICS nations that dominate world economic growth, industrial production and so-called emissions pollution, refused to reduce their fossil-fueled progress and demanded climate reparations from the Developed world.
Developed nations still supporting the Paris protocols now cannot afford the required climate handouts, or the economy destroying Net Zero process, especially when even if they achieved their honourable goals the climate would remain unaffected.
The whole thing is now a stalemate, and a huge bore, as the world is no longer listening to the climate activist diatribe, as they have finally realized after Trump’s exposure of the climate science scam and defunding of related UN entities, that the proposed energy transition is either a con or is unworkable, and needs to be discarded. COPs may go on for another year or two, but the politically driven process is doomed to failure, and thankfully good riddance!
Chasing the end of the rainbow to find the gold was only ever a fairy-tale ambition. The educated side of society realised this by about the age of ten. For the rainbow warriors ( apologies to the original Greenpeace founders i.e. Dr Patrick Moor) those who stopped growing up mentally, now operate as adult children. They will keep wasting $billions of other peoples money progressing a dream, not because it is valid, but because it provides them a rich living endlessly attending state funded jamborees, plus endless air miles, which they like so much.
The climate alarmists or the hypocrite class as we should collectively describe them, are actively robbing society of progress. They are doing this to further their own financial interests, visualise Al Gore. It has nothing to do with improving or saving anything.
Climate Hypocrites.
I like that better than previous versions.
Depending on your point of view it gets better/worse…
GRID OPERATOR SAYS MILIBAND’S NET ZERO POLICIES WILL COST £14 BILLION EXTRA EVERY YEAR
An overnight report from the grid operators over at the National Energy System Operator has trashed Ed Miliband’s economic case for Net Zero.
DESNZ will be raging at the impartial findings – it deploys outrageous spin in response to all reports of this kind. Can’t hide this one…
https://order-order.com/2025/12/11/grid-operator-says-milibands-net-zero-policies-will-cost-14-billion-extra-every-year/#google_vignette
Australia is no better AEMO put the cost as $128B but you know what government agencies are like with costings. There are a number of think tanks that put it between $650B and $1T.
When they have killed all the gas, oil and mining off you wonder if it crosses the dropkick politicians mind that they can’t pay the loans back. We like the UK are taking the fast elevator to sending the country broke. The state of Victoria is leading the charge and has taken up begging to the Feds.
“But realism
has becomemainstream”.No, realism is slowly becoming mainstream. A hard winter & blackouts would speed things up.
When eco nutters squabble amongst themselves we win.
“When will the climate parishioners question the hand that feeds them? The Climate Industrial Complex … the cronies of political capitalism and the central planners (China).”
What has a corrupt governmental system to do with Free Market/Capitalism
”And the central planners (china)” What do you think the Federal Reserve system is?
Never forget that Direct Taxation is Slavery. It gives those in power the right to know EVERYTHING about you. Direct Taxation means you own nothing. Stop paying the tax and find out how long it is ‘yours’ our how long you stay ‘free’.
The COP extravaganzas are nothing but fossil fuel fired fantasies of disgraced bureaucrats. They cower under the mantle of “Climate Change” as if they can hide the actual unproven science of Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming (CAGW) by using a benign label. There are a plethora of legitimate scientific observations and experiments that challenge the CAGW conjecture. Unless these can be addressed and shown to be inaccurate, which is quite unlikely, the $trillions demanded for Climate Change will be given nothing but pocket change by a few ignorant politicians with woefully depleted budgets.
It’s Burning Man Inc. but with preening politicos.
They’ll keep the scam on life support for at least another 3 years with hope they can steal another election in the US and yo-yo the USA back into the AGW fold. The problem for them is once a skeptic, always a skeptic. China will switch from building EVs to coal power plants, Russia will continue selling its’ oil, and India will revel in their upgraded lifestyle thanks to coal. AGW will exit with a whimper, not a bang.
The hookers and private jet pilots/crews needed the work.
For what? For prostitutes, liquor and drugs, that’s what for.
What has racism and homophobia to to with COP meetings on A-CO2 caused Climate Change?
This: muddy the waters and hive off $$.
If they really wanted to reduce A-CO2, they wouldn’t need 50,000 participants. There are only a few CO2 producing countries of importance. The discussions would focus on China and India. Cow farts are not an issue in the bigger picture, but activist vegans have climbed on the Climate Change wagon.
Globalists, World Government and ideological Social Justice activists also use the Climate Change scare for their own purposes.
For the COP30 attendees in Brazil that do not comprehend that JUST electricity generated from wind and solar will negatively impact humanity demands for the products, they’d best provide answers to the more than 8 billion on this planet as to how JUST electricity from wind and solar can support the supply chain of more than 6,000 products and transportation fuels to keep operating our hospitals, airports, militaries, offices, and datacenters. COP30 should serve not as a forum for ideology, but for rediscovering balance — a balance between humanity’s needs and nature’s limits.
“JUST electricity generated from wind and solar”
Convert to:
“electricity generated from JUST wind and solar”
(overly careful reading)
“Which left me wondering: what is the point of activism that celebrates hypocrisy? Or of journalism that doesn’t tell the whole truth.”
That quote describes two of my firm critical beliefs concerning the ongoing climate hysteria and profiteering that I’ve held over the past 25 years, among many other negative concerns of the scientific and political failures of our governments. Eff’em all and vote out the Leftists everywhere.
Rookie mistake confusing Profit and Revenue.
“a financial gain, especially the difference between the amount earned and the amount spent in buying, operating, or producing something.”
vs
“income, especially when of a company or organization and of a substantial nature.”
To what does your post reference?
Twice in main article:
“… has the entire ‘Climate Change’ and Net Zero agendas now moved far away from true environmentalism? And has it forgotten the true sustainability principles of ‘People, Planet and Profit’ to become primarily focussed on one ‘P’ (profit)?” ( – Adrian Hayes, below)
If the Net Zero agendas produced a profit they would not be begging in the rain forest. My assumptions may be off, maybe they’d come back for more even if their business/lifestyle did not need more, but the movement seems focused on revenue generation instead of profit margin.
Thank you.
The quote:
“And has it forgotten the true sustainability principles of ‘People, Planet and Profit’ to become primarily focused on one ‘P’ (profit)?”
I saw the play on words, the metaphor.
Your insight is more literal, and therefore correct.
I’ll continue to assert that if governments would come clean and admit these COPs are achieving nothing, they’d quit wasting tax dollars sending delegations to them in the first place. Then if anyone wants to attend let him pay for it himself or let some private entity pay the costs. Then we’ll see how urgent these meetings really are.
Losing is an ugly thing but for me I am happy to see them lose.