The Week That Was: 2026-05-30 (May 30, 2026)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits..” — Albert Einstein
Number of the Week: 9158 v. Zero
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: This TWTW begins with a discussion of global “experts” demanding that the World Health Organization declare a health crisis from global warming. TWTW asks where is the physical evidence of dangerous global warming resulting from carbon dioxide emissions? TWTW discusses a paper forecasting that a changing sun will result in a new Little Ice Age, then closes with a reminder of the hardships faced by those without fossil fuels.
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Shifting Sands: The most extreme storyline (scenario) for increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide has been dropped by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). That may delay the eventual global boiling by a few years even though UN secretary general António Guterres declared the “era of global warming has ended” and “the era of global boiling has arrived” in July 2023.
Almost coinciding with the dropping of the most extreme storyline, a European “Expert Commission” and others are pushing that the World Health Organization declare world health emergency caused by global warming / climate change. Of course, this is strange given that humanity evolved in the tropics of Africa where it is hot year-round. Apparently, the UN does not care for scientific niceties such as where humanity evolved. Tilak Doshi wrote an excellent essay on the subject on his Substack titled “The WHO is at it Again: Climate Change Repackaged as a Health Emergency.” Doshi concludes his article with:
“Hobgoblins and Human Flourishing
Climate changes (‘natural variability’) and human activities may both have contributed to climate change, but the data do not tell us by how much, as the physicist Steve Koonin has argued authoritatively. Prudent adaptation – resilient infrastructure, improved healthcare systems, technological innovation in energy and agriculture – makes eminent sense.
What does not make sense is the relentless campaign to portray every health challenge as another symptom of the ‘carbon dioxide crisis’, even as the IPCC retreats from its most apocalyptic scenarios and real-world data show humanity becoming far more resilient to environmental extremes.
The WHO’s leadership in this effort, amplified by influential funders like the Gates Foundation in the wake of the US withdrawal and shadowed by past controversies over Chinese influence, suggests groupthink and institutional incentives at work. Health scares justify growing budgets and policy influence. They also detract from the proven drivers of better health outcomes: prosperity, affordable energy and practical engineering. Health and human flourishing are not achieved through global targets set by ‘experts’ and ‘philanthropists’ like Mr Gates, or philosopher-queens like the unelected European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, pushing the latest vaccines, social media censorship and digital ID initiatives.
As Mencken understood, the mightiest hobgoblin is the threat to health. But the data tell a far more optimistic story. Humanity is healthier, wealthier and better equipped to handle environmental challenges than at any point in history (except for the shocks to global human welfare caused by the Covid lockdowns and, most recently, by the Strait of Hormuz blockade). Real public health progress has always come from technological innovation and economic growth, not from perpetual climate alarmism that demands we sacrifice development to meet abstract planetary goals. Policymakers and citizens should insist on evidence-based approaches that prioritize human flourishing over the latest iteration of the climate-health hobgoblin.”
See links under Problems in the Orthodoxy for articles on the change in the most extreme storyline and links under Expanding the Orthodoxy for the latest efforts to have the World Health Organization declare a health emergency.
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Where Is the Evidence? In physical science, physical evidence is paramount. It can be carefully gathered by observation and experiment. Mathematics is the language of science, but mathematics can mislead and deceive. Mathematical logic cannot prove the existence of any physical phenomenon, nor can it prove the truth of any theory. Existence of a physical phenomenon can be established only by observation and experiment. The truth of any theory can be accepted only tentatively; we do not know if future observations will contradict a theory. For example, Newton’s law of universal gravitation had to be modified to accommodate Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
The requirements of physical evidence separate physical sciences from other fields of study called science. In behavioral and social sciences, opinions of “experts” are frequently used. But in physical sciences it is physical evidence, especially observation, is the ultimate and final judge.
In the early 1800s many astronomers and others began wondering why Earth was warm enough to support life given its distance from the Sun. In 1859, physicist John Tyndall of the Royal Institute began experiments using early instruments that measure spectroscopy – the absorption and emission of both visible and invisible light (to humans) by matter – electromagnetic radiation. In 1861, Tyndall reported that certain gases are transparent to sunlight but interfere with infrared radiation. (We now know that all black bodies (which absorb and emit electromagnetic radiation in all wavelengths) in space emit infrared radiation, resulting in cooling. The Stefan-Boltzmann law describes this, and the radiated power is proportional to the absolute temperature raised to the fourth power.)
In 1863 Tyndall reported that the dominant gas interfering with the cooling of Earth is water vapor. Carbon dioxide is a secondary gas that interferes with the cooling of Earth. No one has produced physical evidence showing that Tyndall was wrong.
Unfortunately, Tyndall’s findings have been subject to a great deal of misinterpretation that continues today. For example, as stated in the 1979 Charney Report, climate modelers have assumed that a one degree of warming of Earth from carbon dioxide (or any other cause) will result in a one degree increase in warming from water vapor. Yet they have not produced physical evidence substantiating this amplification.
Tim Palmer is a well-established global climate modeler and a pioneer in the ensemble technique of global climate modeling. In his book, The Primacy of Doubt, Palmer writes:
“The amplifying knock-on effect is an example of what is called a positive feedback process. We emit carbon dioxide into the air. The air warms globally a small amount. Because of evaporation (e.g., from the oceans and land surface), the warmer air becomes more moist. The greenhouse effect from this extra water vapor increases the warming of the from carbon dioxide alone. The direct warming due to a doubling of carbon dioxide is a little over 1℃. However, if we add this water vapor feedback, the warming doubles to just over 2℃ (3.6℉). If we also take into account the fact that reflective ice and snow cover on Earth’s surface start to disappear as the Earth gets warmer, so that more of sun’s energy is absorbed at the surface, the warming increases to about 2.5℃ (4.5℉). Now climate change starts to become something to worry about.
We understand these physical processes reasonablely well…”
Palmer then goes into a discussion on clouds which he recognizes we do not understand. The question is that John Tyndall established that water vapor is the dominant greenhouse gas. Further it modifies the greenhouse effect of other greenhouse gases. Why does Palmer consider it secondary? In fact, the Fifth Assessment report (2014) of the IPCC presents a table of the radiative forcing of various gases since 1750 led by Carbon Dioxide. Missing from the table is the dominant greenhouse gas water vapor.
https://www.britannica.com/science/global-warming/Radiative-forcing
Further, where is the physical evidence of the positive feedback from water vapor? It is missing.
“According to Le Chatelier’s principle, when a system at equilibrium is disturbed by adding more of a reactant, the system will shift to counteract the change.”
https://www.britannica.com/science/common-ion-effect
Yet, Palmer and the global climate modelers would have us believe that the climate system has positive feedbacks that amplify the original disturbance from increased carbon dioxide. The one positive feedback for which physical evidence exists is the Clausius-Clapeyron equation from thermodynamics (but excluding phase change such as from a liquid to a gas)
“Its relevance to meteorology and climatology is the increase of the water-holding capacity of the atmosphere by about 7% for every 1 °C (1.8 °F) rise in temperature.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clausius%E2%80%93Clapeyron_relation
Assuming that the process is continuous – is the sum of many iterations we can apply a mathematical identity issue for a positive feedback from water vapor:
1/ (1 – x) = 1 + x + x2+ x3 +x4 +….
Assuming x = 7% or 0.07 the formula changes to
1/0.93 = 1 + 0.07 + 0.072 + 0.073 + 0.074 +….
And the formula works out to be equal to 1.075. This is far from a significant increase in water vapor needed to double the effect of doubling CO2 on global temperatures. Even in its Sixth Assessment report the IPCC does not assign radiative forcing from water vapor! But it does assume one from stratospheric water vapor after most water vapor has dropped out due to condensation (rain and snow). Table 2.2. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/03/ipcc_far_wg_I_chapter_02.pdf
Detailed calculations by van Wijngaarden and Happer in “The Role of Greenhouse Gases in Energy Transfer in the Earth’s Atmosphere”, based on the actual measure of absorption spectra of greenhouse gas molecules in the atmosphere, provide us with the facts missing from IPCC Assessment Reports. (Spectra are the physical properties of certain gases in absorbing and emitting electromagnetic energy. The properties can be determined only by observation, and the properties of the dominant greenhouse gas may overwhelm the properties of other gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide rendering them meaningless as greenhouse gases.
In the graph below, the radiative forcing is plotted against the fraction f of current concentrations of CO2 (red) and H2O (blue). At first glance, it appears that the effect of H2O is much higher than that of CO2. However, what needs to be compared is the forcing from doubling CO2 with the forcing due to a mere 7% increase in H2O concentration. The result is a forcing of 0.8 W/m2, only one-fourth of the forcing from the doubling of CO2.
Even though water vapor is the dominant greenhouse gas in the lower atmosphere, which affects the ability of other greenhouse gases to absorb and emit radiation, the IPCC ignores water vapor in making its calculations of greenhouse gas forcing. Without supporting evidence global climate modelers state that water vapor increase sufficiently to double the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide and make forecasts of dangerous global warming. As discussed above, the physical evidence shows that the increase in water vapor is one-fourth of what is required to double the influence of a 1℃ increase in temperature from increasing CO2 or any other cause. The work of the IPCC contradicts itself and contradict physical evidence. Thus, the IPCC Assessment reports are not physical science based on physical evidence addressing the greenhouse effect, but something else entirely.
For the work by van Wijngaarden and Happer see link under Challenging the Orthodoxy – Radiation Transfer, for a discussion of John Tyndall’s work in TWTW see https://www.sepp.org/twtwfiles/2026/TWTW%201-31-2026.pdf and
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Changing Sun: Kenneth Richard discusses an interesting paper by Valentina Zharkova “Modern Grand Solar Minimum (2020-2053) Little Ice Age started” presented at ‘The Beyond Climate Change Consensus’ Conference on December 8, 2025. The abstract states:
“The two Principal Components (eigen vectors) derived with Principal Component Analysis from the solar background magnetic field defining two largest magnetic waves of the poloidal field of the Sun are shown to be generated in two layers by the solar dynamo with the dipole magnetic sources. The two magnetic waves revealed a noticeable phase shift between them resulting in the variations of 11-year cycle amplitudes in the summary curve modulated by the envelope curve with a period of 330-380 years defined by the usual wave interference with a small phase shift. This envelope curve defines the grand solar cycles separated by grand solar minima (GSMs), similar to those observed in the past: Maunder, Wolf, Oort and other grand minima. There are the two modern GSMs approaching: GSM1 (2020-2053) and GSM2 (2375-2410). During a GSM a reduction of solar irradiance is expected by about 3 W/m2 from the modern level that causes a decrease of the average terrestrial temperature by about 1.0C. This temperature reduction is already observed for the GSM1 clearly in the Northern hemisphere from the West to East signaling the arrival of Little Ice Age for GSM1.” [Underlined italics in original.]
It’s too early to tell whether the forecast will be realized, but the paper is a reminder that the deadliest time for humanity is cold, not heat. See links under Science: Is the Sun Rising?
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A Reminder: In Real Clear Energy, Chemical Engineer and former ExxonMobil executive Nazeer Bhore discusses the difficulties that individuals face in developing countries as the Persian Gulf conflict interrupts oil and natural gas supplies to those countries. It is a reminder of what life was like before the use of these fuels. In “The 60-Year Echo: How a Middle East War Is Reclaiming the Lungs of Rural India” Bhore begins with:
“In 1966, long before the lights of Mumbai’s skyline or the professional corridors of America defined my life, my reality was a small village in India. I was a four-year-old boy in a landscape where time felt stationary. There was no electricity to pierce the heavy rural nights, no running water, and no sanitation system. Most critically, there was no such thing as ‘cooking fuel’ in a bottle or a pipe.
Each morning began with the harvest of the land’s waste involving the gathering fallen branches and drying cow dung cakes. I can still see my grandmother in the small, cramped kitchen, stooped over a mud chulha. The air wasn’t just smoky; it was a thick, grey atmosphere that you breathed rather than stood in. It was a sensory overload of stinging eyes and the rhythmic, hollow sound of a persistent cough that punctuated the sound of crackling wood. At four, I didn’t know this was ‘Household Air Pollution’; it was simply the smell of lunch.”
See link under Energy Issues – Elsewhere non-US.
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SEPP’S APRIL FOOLS AWARD — THE JACKSON
SEPP is conducting its annual vote for the recipient of the coveted trophy, The Jackson, a lump of coal. Readers are asked to nominate and vote for who they think is most deserving, following these criteria:
• The nominee has advanced, or proposes to advance, significant expansion of governmental power, regulation, or control over the public or significant sections of the general economy.
• The nominee does so by declaring such measures are necessary to protect public health, welfare, or the environment.
• The nominee declares that physical science supports such measures.
• The physical science supporting the measures is flimsy at best, and possibly non-existent.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, was the 2025 recipient. Past recipients are not eligible. See list at https://www.sepp.org/april-fools-award.cfm.
The committee that makes the selection prefers a candidate with a national or international presence. The voting will close on JULY 1 NOT JULY 31 as previously announced. Please send your nomination and a brief reason why the person is qualified for the honor to Ken@SEPP.org.
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Number of the Week: 9158 v. Zero: Number of Pages and Authors of the four main IPCC reports identified as IPCC Assessment Report Six, 2021 to 2023
• The Physical Science Basis of Climate Change in August 2021 (WGI contribution; 2400 pages, 234 authors “scientists” [Assigns estimated warming by 2060, 2080, and 2100]
• Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability in February 2022 (WGII contribution; 3675 pages, 270 authors and editors [Claims we are locked-into dangerous warming]
• Mitigation of Climate Change in April 2022 (WGIII contribution; 2913 pages, 278 authors) [Restricting global warming to 1.5°C is nearly out of reach unless radical action is taken.]
• Synthesis Report in March 2023, (170 pages, 49 authors) [The unequivocal role of human activities in global warming; Global warming of +1.5°C by 2030; Increasing likelihood of abrupt and irreversible changes (tipping points)]
Assuming no duplication, a total of 831 authors participated in these key reports which contained a total of 9158 pages.
Total number of pages explaining the measurement and calculation of the total greenhouse effect in today’s atmosphere and the measurement and calculation of greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide in today’s atmosphere — ZERO.
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Science: Is the Sun Rising?
A Grand Solar Minimum Has Arrived…Global Cooling Of At Least 1°C Is Expected By The 2030s, 2040s
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, May 29, 2026
Link to paper: Modern Grand Solar Minimum (2020-2053) Little Ice Age started
By Valentina Zharkova, Science of Climate Change, May 7, 2026
Challenging the Orthodoxy — NIPCC
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science
Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2013
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/_template-assets/documents/CCR/CCR-II/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts
Idso, Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2014
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-biological-impacts/
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels
By Multiple Authors, Bezdek, Idso, Legates, and Singer eds., Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, April 2019
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-fossil-fuels/
Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming
The NIPCC Report on the Scientific Consensus
By Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Nov 23, 2015
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/why-scientists-disagree-about-global-warming/
Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate
S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008
http://www.sepp.org/publications/nipcc_final.pdf
Challenging the Orthodoxy – Radiation Transfer
The Role of Greenhouse Gases in Energy Transfer in the Earth’s Atmosphere
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, Mar 3, 2023
Dependence of Earth’s Thermal Radiation on Five Most Abundant Greenhouse Gases
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, December 22, 2020
https://wvanwijngaarden.info.yorku.ca/files/2020/12/WThermal-Radiationf.pdf?x45936
Net Zero Averted Temperature Increase
By Richard Lindzen, William Happer, and William A. van Wijngaarden, CO2 Coalition, June 2024
Radiation Transport in Clouds
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Klimarealistene, Science of Climate Change, January 2025
Real-World Observations Do Not Support The Position That Climate Change Is Human-Caused
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, May 25, 2026
Link to paper: The State of the Climate 2025 Global and Arctic: Based on Real Observations
By Ole Humlum, Science of Climate Change, Talk given, Mar 15, 2026
Calculating Earth’s Albedo, Part 2
By Andy May, WUWT, May 23, 2026
#DoEDeepDive: The scale problem
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 27, 2026
The chapter [DOE report] then focuses in on US motor vehicle emissions as an example of the overall principle. And it should be obvious right away that if half the world acting together can barely affect the climate, one single sector in the US acting alone is less consequential. Should be. As the report observes:
“In 2022, the emissions from U.S. cars and light duty trucks totaled 1.05 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide (GtCO2, EPA 2024). Meanwhile global CO2 emissions from energy use totaled 34.6 GtCO2 (Energy Institute 2024). Hence U.S. cars and light trucks account for only 3.0 percent of global energy-related CO2 emissions.
Pressure Causes Temperature? It’s Time to Climb Down from “Mount Stupid”
By Roy Spencer, His Blog, May 28, 2026
The Law of Averages: Overturning basic maths
By Mark Hodgson, Climate Scepticism, May 29, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Europe is the fastest-warming continent, warming more than twice as fast as the global average.
That’s from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, so I suppose we can regard it as a pretty definitive statement.
Climate change (aka global boiling) is a remarkable phenomenon – everywhere is heating faster than the average. I don’t know about the laws of physics, but it seems that the laws of mathematics have been well and truly overturned. .
[SEPP Comment: As TWTW stated earlier, the claim is valid only for land masses compared with the globe, which is over 71% water.]
Declines in US extreme temperatures since 1899
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 27, 2026
[SEPP Comment: From John Christy’s analysis.]
Defending the Orthodoxy
The Primacy of Doubt: From Quantum Physics to Climate Change, How the Science of Uncertainty Can Help Us Understand Our Chaotic World.
By Tim Palmer, Basic Books, 2022
Global human population has surpassed Earth’s sustainable carrying capacity
By Corey J A Bradshaw, Environmental Research Letters, Mar 27, 2026
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ae51aa
[Based on our Ricker logistic model fitted to the negative phase] The Earth cannot sustain the future human population, or even today’s, without a major overhaul of socio-cultural practices for using land, water, energy, biodiversity, and other resources.
Think it’s hot now? The next five years will smash records, UN says
By Seth Borenstein, AP, Via The Hill, May 28, 2026
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/record-heat-forecast-united-nations
Link to report: State of the Global Climate 2025
By Staff, World Meteorological Organization, 2026
https://library.wmo.int/viewer/69807/download?file=WMO-1391-2025_en.pdf&type=pdf&navigator=1
What the report does not cover
• It does not provide climate projections or forecasts.
• It does not provide in-depth scientific discussion.
• It does not provide extensive regional or national detail.
• It does not prescribe policy actions or mitigation pathway
[SEPP Comment: The news article states: “The World Meteorological Organization also forecasts an overheating Arctic that warms nearly 3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.66 degrees Celsius) between now and 2030 and a dangerous drought with potential wildfires for the Amazon, a crucial part of Earth’s natural defenses to lessen human-caused climate change.” Unable to find a link to the forecasts.]
Scientists have scrapped the worst‑case climate scenario – because action is making a difference
By Ali Majdfar, The Conversation, May 27, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
[SEPP Comment: According to Our World In Data, in 2020 total CO2 emissions were 35,158, million tonnes, in 2024 38,598, million tonnes, for an increase of 10%. The author calls this a cut in emissions? So much for “academic rigor” in The Conversation.]
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
British Way of Life under Threat from Weather – CCC
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Kenow That, May 26, 2026
Link to press release: British way of life under threat from heat, flooding and drought
By Staff, Climate Change Committee (CCC), May 20, 2026
Link to report: A Well-Adapted UK: The Fourth Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk (CCRA4-IA)
By Emma Pinchbeck, et al., Climate Change Committee (CCC), May 20, 2026
The Met Office and consortium of experts who produced the CCRA4-IA Technical Report
From Homewood: Baroness Brown is the Chair of the Adaptation Committee, who wrote this report.
For sometime now, she has been a Director of Ceres Power (developers of green hydrogen) and Orsted (Danish wind power company).
Both these companies stand to make a lot of money out of the climate scare.
Pure coincidence, of course!
Claim: Michigan Tornadoes Linked to Climate Change
By Robert Vislocky, WUWT, May 26, 2026
Questioning the Orthodoxy
Simple physics
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 27, 2026
A frequent claim by climate alarmists is that global warming due to man-made GHGs is “simple physics”. And it is true that some parts of it are simple, for instance that if more heat is coming in than is getting out the planet will warm. But most of those making this claim are not, to put it gently, well-placed to judge what is simple and what is not.
Tidbits
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 27, 2026
But no. That “faster than ever” is fatuous given, to take just one example, the pace of warming at the end of the Younger Dryas roughly 11,700 years ago, when temperatures leaped upward by at least 3˚C and possibly as much as 10˚C in a few decades. It’s not a state secret or buried in the appendices of the theory of special relativity. It’s known to anyone who bothers to check.
Be Reasonable About Climate Change
By Ron Clutz, Hix Blog, May 29, 2026
Social Media sez the Manosphere wants to “Reposition Global Warming as Theory”
By Russell Cook, Gelbspan Files.com., May 17, 2026
Even more comical at the end is how this person showcased the main hallmark of far-Left politics: psychological projection.
The persuasion is not on the science, it’s a deeper-rooted identity persuasion.
Exactly. As I pointed out in my somewhat off-topic March 13 blog post, the climate issue has never been about the climate science. To borrow the words from the legendary Rush Limbaugh, it’s the enviro-Left who have a deep-rooted need to feel that they have value on Earth. That they matter.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair: “Abandon Net Zero and Move Closer to Trump”
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 28, 2026
Former Time Mag climate reporter Brian Walsh now admits: ‘The scenario behind the most apocalyptic, attention-getting findings was largely an attempt to imagine how bad things could get, not a true forecast’ – ‘Climate change’s worst-case scenario is officially canceled’
By Marc Morano, Climate Depot, May 25, 2026
Energy & Environmental Review: May 26, 2026
By John Droz, Jr., Master Resource, May 26, 2026
Problems in the Orthodoxy
Climate House of Cards Collapsing at Last
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, May 29, 2026
From The climate change house of cards is finally collapsing
By Peter Murphy, Washington Examiner, May 28, 2026
Greenhouse gaslighting
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 27, 2026
Net Zero Nightmare Collapses: EU Slammed by “Implausible” Climate Report Bombshell
The IPCC has just admitted that its alarmist climate scenario is wrong. Problem: it is on this scenario that most of the EU’s analyses and projections were based.
By Drieu Godefidi, His Substack, May 18, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
SSP5-8.5: Garbage In, Doomcasting Out
By Willis Eschenbach, WUWT, May 24, 2026
However, don’t think we can rest on our laurels. The usual suspects will just latch onto the next most alarmist scenario, SSP3-7.0, which is only slightly better … you see, the problem is that the mainstream climate scientists are caught in the Sinclair Trap, viz:
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
After Paris!
Suddenly the Paris Agreement grows teeth
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 28, 2026
In the Labor Government’s own words:
For the first time in a free trade agreement, Australia (and the EU) has made a binding commitment to implement obligations under the Paris Agreement on climate change.
— Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Effectively Australian farmers or exporters to the EU will be held hostage by the EU to make sure we meet our Paris targets, even if we vote against Net Zero commitments. The deal has meaningless words like “Australia maintains the right to regulate in pursuit of its own public policy objectives” but if we actually do that, there will be a price.
Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide
The effect of additional CO2 on Orobranche minor
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 27, 2026
From the CO2Science.org archive. Fortunately, our carbon sins don’t seem to benefit Broomrape. In 1999 there was an experiment exposing it to an additional 300 ppm CO2 and there was no recorded increase in its growth.
Seeking a Common Ground
How Can we Persuade Climate Alarmists to Acknowledge There Are Two Sides to This Argument?
By Mike Hulme, The Daily Sceptic, May 27, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
What Demographic Prediction Can and Cannot Achieve
A look at our new preprint on population projections
By Roger Pielke, Jr., His Blog, May 28, 2026
Changing Weather
Weather Disaster Losses Declining
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Kenow That, May 26, 2026
Super El Nino Coming! Or not.
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, May 24, 2026
Climate Change Weekly # 581— It’s Hurricane Season, and Nothing Is New
By Staff, The Heartland Institute, May 29, 2026
Hottest Spring Day
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Kenow That, May26, 2026
[Unusually high UV levels] This tells us that the sun has been especially bright, undoubtedly the dominant factor in this week’s heat.
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
Catastrophic warming already happened in Antarctica 130,000 years ago
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 29, 2026
Link to press release: Ancient dust points to retreat of West Antarctic Ice Sheet during last warm period
By Columbia Climate School, Phys.org., May 26, 2026
Link to paper: Diminished Ross Ice Shelf and West Antarctic Ice Sheet during Last Interglacial warming
By Austin J. Carter, et al., Nature Geoscience, May 25, 2026
From Nova: New research suggests almost all the Ross Ice Shelf melted and large parts of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet disappeared too, yet somehow Emperor penguins survived. So did the seals and the whales, and there was no tipping point that broke the planet. But the Hunter-gatherer beach clubs of 131,000 years ago were all washed away.
Acidic Waters
Ocean “Acidification” — Another Fake Scare That Won’t Go Away
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, May 26, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Link to Non-science essay: Fossil fuel pollution’s effect on oceans comes with huge costs
A new study concludes that accounting for ocean impacts nearly doubles the estimated climate costs to society
By Dana Nuccitelli, Yale Climate Connections, The Invading Sea, Mar 13, 2026
Link to paper: Accounting for ocean impacts nearly doubles the social cost of carbon
By Bernardo A. Bastien-Olvera, et al., Nature Climate Change, Man 15, 2026
From paper: Here we integrate the latest ocean science and economics into a climate-economy model, capturing climate change impacts on corals, mangroves, seaports, fisheries and mariculture to estimate their welfare repercussions at a global scale. Conceptually, this ocean-based SCC (blue SCC) represents a component of the total SCC currently omitted in standard estimates.
Lowering Standards
UK Climate Change Committee’s Latest Weather Witterings Indicate Met Office Chief Should Step Down
By Chris Morrison, The Daily Sceptic, May 25, 2026
If the Met Office were a private company, swift dismissal would inevitably follow given the scale of the damage, wreckage even, visited on the British economy by this pumped-up pile of climate catastrophe claptrap.
The 1947 Heatwave, Which The Met Office Keeps Quiet About
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Kenow That, May 27, 2026
This week’s heatwave is an exceptionally rare event for this time of year, but it is not unprecedented, even during the few brief years our temperature records date back.
It has happened before and will undoubtedly happen again.
It has nothing to do with climate change.
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
No, Climate Central, Summer Warming Isn’t Due to Climate Change
By Anthony Watts, Climate Realism, May 27, 2026
The Urban Heat Island is a primary factor in urban warming trends, not the footnote that Climate Central treats it as. Before attributing summer warming in 221 cities to human fossil fuel use, Climate Central should first ensure that what they are measuring is a long-term atmospheric temperature trend, not the bias from urban asphalt and artificial heat
Guardian: US Illegal Immigrant Deportation Flights are Worsening the Climate Crisis
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 29, 2026
[SEPP Comment: They didn’t give an estimate of temperature increase to one-one-hundreds of a degree?]
Guardian Reveals Secret Plan by BHP to Backtrack on Climate Action
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 26, 2026
The Guardian is treating this like they just scooped Watergate, but all the leaked documents do is provide some context for a change in corporate direction which was already public knowledge.
[SEPP Comment: “BHP Group Limited, founded as the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, is an Australian multinational mining and metals corporation. BHP was established in August 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. The company specializes in mining and selling iron ore, copper and coal.”]
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
New Orleans should prepare for eventual climate evacuation: Study
By Sean Noone, The Hill, May 27, 2026
Link to paper: Climate-driven depopulation and adaptation realities in America’s coastal ground zero
By Torbjörn E. Törnqvist, et al., Nature Sustainability, Mar 11, 2026
Opening sentence of the abstract: With global temperatures poised to exceed the 1.5°C Paris Agreement threshold—a level that triggered substantial ice-sheet collapse during the Last Interglacial—low-elevation coastal zones face sea-level commitments far beyond current planning horizons
[SEPP Comment: The last interglacial was not driven by carbon dioxide, and the next interglacial will not be driven by CO2.]
Communicating Better to the Public – Go Personal.
The ‘Dr Willie Soon got $1.2 million from Exxon’ Accusation … just got an increment more dicey
By Russell Cook, GelspanFiles.com, May 26, 2026
[SEPP Comment: A review of old accusations made without evidence.]
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda on Children
Climate Anxiety? Get A Life!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Kenow That, May 25, 2026
It might help if the likes of the BBC actually told the truth about climate change, not their version of it.
And then tell these sad children to grow up and get a life.
I guess you could say I am not being very sympathetic!
Expanding the Orthodoxy
European “Expert Commission” Urges COVID-19-Like Global Climate State Of Energency!
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, May 26, 2026
In its report, the commission emphasizes that the climate crisis is no longer an abstract threat to future generations. Instead, it is an acute danger to global health, security, social cohesion, and human rights.
WHO/Lancet Pushing Climate Health Emergency
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Kenow That, May 27, 2026
The WHO is at it Again: Climate Change Repackaged as a Health Emergency
By Tilak Doshi, His Substack, May 27, 2026 [H/t Clare Goldsberry]
As Mencken understood, the mightiest hobgoblin is the threat to health. But the data tell a far more optimistic story. Humanity is healthier, wealthier and better equipped to handle environmental challenges than at any point in history (except for the shocks to global human welfare caused by the Covid lockdowns and, most recently, by the Strait of Hormuz blockade). Real public health progress has always come from technological innovation and economic growth, not from perpetual climate alarmism that demands we sacrifice development to meet abstract planetary goals. Policymakers and citizens should insist on evidence-based approaches that prioritise human flourishing over the latest iteration of the climate-health hobgoblin.
Questioning European Green
Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Net Zero Dream
By Tilak Doshi, His Substack, May 24, 2026
Human welfare, not abstract emissions targets, must remain the lodestar. History shows that technological progress and energy abundance, not central planning, have lifted billions from poverty and improved environmental outcomes along the way.
The Case Against Net Zero – a Fifteenth Update: Unachievable Disastrous Pointless
By Robin Guenier, Climate Scepticism, May 27, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Funding Issues
United Nations Resolution Demands the USA Pay Everyone Elses Climate Damage Claims
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 23, 2026
They didn’t actually say “USA”, but we all know what they meant.
The Political Games Continue
Conservatives are tearing themselves apart over “The Paris Agreement”
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 23, 2026
Germany’s AfD Party Calls Debunked Climate Scenarios “Greatest Fraud In Human History”
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, May 24, 2026
Litigation Issues
If This Lawsuit Succeeds, Global Business Changes Overnight
By Gerard Scimeca, Real Clear Energy, May 27, 2026
If courts begin allowing American parent corporations to be hauled into domestic court for overseas operations absent evidence of direct control, every multinational enterprise—from manufacturing and energy to pharmaceuticals and technology—will face pressure to defend foreign disputes under an unpredictable patchwork of state tort law.
Analysis: China-backed litigators crippling Louisiana energy
By Kevin Mooney, CFACT, May 21, 2026
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
Cost of Renewables To Hit £40bn in 2030
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Kenow That, May 29, 2026
Link to report: Cost of renewables to double by 2030
Still no serious alternative to the cost of Net Zero on offer
By Institute of Economic Affairs and David Turber, May 28, 2026
From Homewood: That is equivalent to about £750 for every household in the country, of which about a third will feed through onto our energy bills.
The rest, of course, the public will still have to pay for one way or another, whether through higher taxes, higher prices and lost jobs.
EPA and other Regulators on the March
SEC moves to formally rescind corporate climate disclosure requirements
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, May 29, 2026
Energy Issues – General
Primary Error Impairing Electric Power Systems
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, May 25, 2026
From: Electricity Markets & Engineering Realities
‘It is telling that while [solar & wind] developers routinely claim their energy is now the cheapest available, they never argue that subsidies are therefore no longer needed’
By Bryan Leyland, Climate Depot, May 21, 2026
The solution is not to abandon markets, but to redesign them around what the power system and the economy actually need. Long-term system performance — not short-term price — must guide both investment and operation. Engineers must be empowered to speak plainly about risks ahead, and their warnings must be taken seriously before failures occur rather than after.
If we want a reliable and affordable power system, we must make that a non-negotiable requirement. Markets should be the enabler of that goal, not the driver that overrides it. Ignore this reality, and high prices and shortages are not a risk — they are a certainty.
Photo ops are easy, turning the wheels is another matter
By Terry Etam, BOE Report, May 20, 2026
Once upon a time, Canada constructed an 1,100 kilometre pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast, across some of the most challenging mountain terrain anywhere on earth, not to mention major waterways and wetlands. It was built in the early 1950s with 1950s-level technology (as in, virtually none). No computers, no laser-guided this or that, no GPS.
That pipeline, the original Trans Mountain line, was constructed in 30 months.
China is building things with the same fervour that we had 70 years ago.
Some sixty years after the completion of the original Trans Mountain line, it took 6 years, more than twice the time of the original, to construct a parallel pipeline in the same right of way, from 2018 to 2024. And that is for construction: the pipeline was initially proposed in 2012. It took 6 years of frustration for Kinder Morgan to throw in the towel, before the feds stepped in, and the entire process, from kick off proposal to completion, took 12 years and over $30 billion,
Energy Issues – Europe
Dangerous Loss of Frequency on May 2nd
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Kenow That, May 26, 2026
In a few years time, we will have three times as much solar capacity, which will stretch the grid beyond its limits. We will also have little back from gas, under Miliband’s crazy policies. But it is only gas that keeps the grid going at all now.
Britain Curbs Electricity Trading After Straining Europe’s Power Grids
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Kenow That, May 28, 2026
The gist is that using interconnectors either to dump surplus electricity or import it to meet short term peaks in demand is putting strain on the European side of the grid.
Hence, the FT’s comment that NESO will be forced to rely more heavily on firing up gas plants or paying wind farms to switch off.
Energy Quango Costs Balloon Amid Miliband Net Zero Push
By Richard Eldred, The Daily Sceptic, May 26, 2026
[SEPP Comment: In the UK, an energy quango is a quasi‑autonomous non‑governmental organization (quango) supposedly independent from government ministers but is funded by taxpayers and plays a key role in the energy sector.]
Energy Issues – Australia
Australian renewable investments evaporate in 2025: reaching a ten year low
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 27, 2026
Energy Issues – Elsewhere non-US
Energy Apartheid Denying Africa Tech Future
By Vijay Jayaraj, WUWT, May 26, 2026
Kenya just shelved a $1 billion project backed by Microsoft and UAE-based G42. President William Ruto explained the decision plainly: The facility would have consumed roughly one-third of the country’s entire 3,000-megawatt installed capacity – the amount of power from a single coal-fired power plant. Such a modest amount of electricity cannot support a modern lifestyle for a nation of more than 58 million people, much less meet the added requirements of power-hungry data centers.
The 60-Year Echo: How a Middle East War Is Reclaiming the Lungs of Rural India
By Nazeer Bhore, Real Clear Energy, May 27, 2026
Affraudability
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 27, 2026
On this very point we like to quote the late great P.J. O’Rourke that “Beyond a certain point complexity is fraud…. when someone creates a system in which you can’t tell whether or not you’re being fooled, you’re being fooled.” Which brings us to the shiny new buzzword “affordability” which refers to policies that make everything more expensive and the beneficiaries hide the fraud in tangles of complex bureaucracy.
If you want to get a headache, stay with us while we explain what it is that Gallant tracks. Ontario has what they call the “Independent Electricity System Operator” so politicians can claim whatever disaster is unfolding isn’t their fault. Sure, they make the laws and oversee the creation of the regulations. But heck, these things are “arms’ length” and “impartial” and independent and expert and wise and wonderful so shut up.
China added a Germany-sized electricity grid last year
Did it? Let’s find out.
By JIT, Climate Scepticism, May 23, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
So the headline claim (wind data not checked, assumed correct based on the solar numbers) is highly likely to be true.
We can calculate the capacity factor of China’s solar photovoltaics, based on the statement that the installed capacity was 1202 “million kilowatts” (1.2 Terawatts).
I make that 11.1%, although I think to be fair we should increase that by 17% to allow for the gradual deployment of generation over 2025, giving 13% CF. It means, of course, that China’s grid is increasingly underutilised, and increasingly swingy. If sceptics believe anything, it is that this will increase costs and decrease that country’s competitive edge. As to that, we will wait and see. [Asterisk: in the UK, solar power has a narrow peak, about noon. For countries with a larger range of longitude than the UK [or lower latitude], this swinginess is naturally blurred.]
Energy Issues — US
Climate And Energy Provisions In New York’s FY 2027 Budget: Making The Coming Crash Worse
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, May 29, 2026
And then there is RGGI, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. New York is a member, along with all the other states along the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Virginia (except Pennsylvania). There are limited allowances for GHG emissions from power plants, and the amount of those allowances is scheduled to decrease by approximately 10% per year every year through 2033. The very idea is to force many of the natural gas power plants to close, and to force the price of electricity from the remaining ones to skyrocket. As of now this remains in place. If you think this scheme is so ridiculous that no state could possibly be part of it, remember that Virginia just re-joined a couple of months ago.
Here is some related advice from the State of New York: if you should ever find yourself in a car hurtling toward a brick wall at 100 mph, your best strategy is to close your eyes and pretend it is not happening.
AI Revolution: Leaving Green Energy States Behind
By Steve Goreham, Master Resource, May 27, 2026
New York State Renewable Permitting Scandal
By Roger Caiazza, WUWT, May 27, 2026
The experiences recounted in the article indicate that unfettered renewable energy development in New York is causing demonstrable environmental impacts. Given environmental advocacy outrage over environmental impacts of data centers it is disappointing that they have not expressed their concerns over the more extensive impacts of renewable energy development.
Protecting 8(a) Protects Alaska Jobs, Communities, and Resource Future
By Deantha Skibinski, Real Clear Energy, May 26, 2026
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
The Market’s Revenge on Energy Statism
By Samuel Furfari, The Heartland Institute, Red State, May 21, 2026 [H/t Gordon Fulks]
Return of King Coal?
The Coal Conversation
By Amy Oliver Cooke, Real Clear Energy, May 22, 2026
Nuclear Energy and Fears
Energy Department takes steps toward allowing plutonium, historically used in weapons, in nuclear fuel
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Feb 26, 2026
[SEPP Comment: Fear mongering article. Nuclear weapons require plutonium of at least 93% Plutonium 239, spent nuclear fuel has a concentration of plutonium of about 60%. Nuclear weapons require Uranium 235 at over 90% concentration. Uranium is used in nuclear reactors is at (3 to 20%; mostly under 5%).]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
The Bubble Pops: Big Miner BHP quietly backs away from decarbonization
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 26, 2026
This is not the story of an evil miner failing to make commitments, it’s the story of their technology fantasy busting. If wind and solar power were cheap, the profit hungry miners would be doing it wouldn’t they?
Instead, all their ambitious plans are coming undone.
Why Do We Keep Wasting Money on ‘Renewable’ Technologies That Will Soon Be Outdated?
By Gary Abernathy, Real Clear Energy, May 26, 2026
The article points out that “arrays that track the sun throughout the day, the dominant technology currently in use, need approximately four acres of panels for every megawatt of power — less than half the land needed a decade ago. That trend, says Bolinger, ‘should continue into the foreseeable future.’”
[SEPP Comment: What trend? Will they track the sun beyond the horizon?]
Offshore wind confusion: Refunding a lease is not a buyout
By David Wojick, CFACT, May 26, 2026
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other
Aviation Fool: Zombie of Biden Policy Looming Over Airline Industry
By Sydney Rodman, Real Clear Energy, May 26, 2026
Airlines are starting to realize SAF’s [sustainable aviation fuel] downsides, even in moderate quantities—and particularly during a global fuel shortage. This expensive fuel costs between two and five times as much as conventional jet fuel.
UK sustainable aviation fuel mandate to cost RAF £1bn
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Kenow That, May 24, 2026
Hot rocks
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 27, 2026
California Dreaming
Chevron Launches New Sign Campaign Targeting Sacramento as California Gas Prices Hit New Highs
It will be interesting to see how the Chevron sign campaign works out for the company on this busy Memorial Day weekend.
By Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection, May 24, 2026
Oh Mann!
Michael Mann: Cancelling RCP 8.5 has only Bought us 50 Years
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 23, 2026
Link to: Sorry, climate change is still dangerous, no matter what nonsense Trump emits
By Genevieve Guenther and Michael E. Mann, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 22, 2026
[SEPP Comment: Apparently the editors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists don’t understand Atomic, Molecular and Optical physics.]
Environmental Industry
War of the Worlds
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 27, 2026
There is a kind of war of the mental worlds going on here, between those who genuinely love nature and understand trade-offs and those who love it in the abstract while seeking to destroy it to save it.
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
Claim: Climate Change Increases Risk of Snakebites
By Robert Vislocky, WUWT, May 24, 2026
Regardless of the modeling result and poor choice of emissions pathway, the obvious questions remain … have actual observed snakebites been increasing as the planet has warmed and is this really a growing problem of concern?
[SEPP Comment: Wouldn’t an increase in infrared radiation from Earth confuse pit vipers which depend on sensing infrared radiation from their prey?]
Exploding Solar Panels
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Kenow That, May 28, 2026
ARTICLES
1. Donald Trump, Climate Scientist
How a presidential tweet forced the media to come to terms with its faulty global-warming reporting.
By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., WSJ, Updated May 29, 2026
TWTW Summary: The veteran journalist begins with:
“Many Americans still think the key question in climate politics is a human effect on climate, yea or nay, believer vs. denier.
No. For 40 years, the only interesting questions have been how and how much are we influencing the climate, and the cost and benefit of proposed actions—questions that can’t be answered by shouting yea or nay about a human role in climate change.
Activists have taught us one thing. Hectoring about the end of the world, insisting the science is ‘settled,’ equating doubters to Holocaust deniers, has been a stimulant to green pork and not real climate policy, the pinnacle of cynicism being Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
The public, understandably, long ago stopped listening. Or maybe it started getting its guidance from Donald Trump, which wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
This month, when an authoritative United Nations advisory panel quietly junked a long-misused worst-case emissions scenario known as RCP 8.5, one of the first to notice was the president, who charmingly tweeted about ‘Dumocrats’ and their ‘WRONG, WRONG, WRONG’ climate estimates.
This was a public service, it turned out, for Mr. Trump’s post forced the media to reckon with a decade’s worth of its own bad reporting.”
Discusses changes in the slant in news articles particularly in the New York Times then concludes with:
“In any sane model, of course, technological advance is routine and must be accounted for. And we’ve had plenty in all areas of energy production and distribution, including green energy. But the world consumes more of every kind of energy, even renewables, without necessarily having any deliberate effect on emissions, though those emissions remain far below the RCP 8.5 forecast, which proved useful only for overselling climate doom to the public.
The larger lesson is an extraordinary story of futility and cynicism, which passes itself off as climate politics. Literally trillions of dollars have been wasted. The story begins with the Obama administration ditching a carbon tax in favor of green pork. It ends with a former John Kerry aide arguing last year that the effects of climate change ‘resemble those if China or Indonesia were to launch missiles at the United States.’ The U.S. should consider employing military power against emitting countries.
This record of disgrace only underlines the glory (and mystery) of the current moment. Organized climate science is finally repenting of its overuse of worst-case scenarios, and not because of searching criticism from an honest and competent news media, but because of embarrassment at shoddy mainstream coverage of climate science.
More amazing, the truth has now reached readers of the New York Times and likely wouldn’t have if Mr. Trump hadn’t posted about climate science, in his usual hyperbolic, all-caps way, on Truth Social.”
************
2. Repealing Gary Gensler’s Climate Rule
The Atkins SEC moves to end a faddish regulation that harms U.S. business.
By The Editorial Board, WSJ, May 29, 2026
TWTW Summary: The editorial begins with:
“Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins is doing yeoman’s work paring back his predecessor Gary Gensler’s overreaches. On Friday Mr. Atkins moved to rescind the agency’s 885-page climate disclosure rule that was a scourge on the U.S. economy.
The Gensler rule was an outgrowth of the left’s campaign to keep fossil fuels in the ground. It sought to require public companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions and plans to address climate change. The latter included risks from a government-imposed green transition and spending on climate ‘mitigation,’ including carbon offsets to comply with voluntary emissions goals.
One goal was to shame businesses that produce and rely on fossil fuels. Another was to give investors such as government pension funds a cudgel to pressure companies into reducing CO2 emissions. Companies could be sued by investors or dunned by the SEC if their disclosures were deemed inadequate or misleading.
After states and businesses sued, the Biden team agreed to stay the rule while litigation played out. Now the SEC is conceding the challengers were right: The rule exceeded the agency’s legal authority and imposed substantial costs on businesses that weren’t justified by its putative benefits.
Mr. Gensler, an Elizabeth Warren disciple, claimed to divine authority for the rule in a provision of the 1933 Securities Act that allows the agency to require disclosures ‘in the public interest or for the protection of investors.’ But as the SEC now acknowledges, this provision doesn’t let the agency require companies to disclose anything that it or some public investors may want.
Under such reasoning, there would be no limiting principle to what the agency could require companies to disclose. Some progressive investors say companies should have to report their workforce diversity, contributions to political outfits and a slew of ‘sustainability’ information such as the amount of plastic they consume and recycle.
The Trump SEC says the rule conflicted with the agency’s longstanding materiality standard for public reporting. For most companies, the climate disclosures aren’t relevant to performance and might even obscure material information in filings.”
The editorial concludes with a 50% increase in initial public offerings in 2025 and a strong start in this year is evidence that the removal of the regulations was needed.