You know that President Biden and team are convinced Glasgow is heading towards “Flop26,” when they start telling all who will listen: “Glasgow must be the kickoff of a decade of ambition…. Our meeting here in Glasgow isn’t the end of the journey…. It’s really just a starting line....” (Biden to Opening Leaders Statements session); “COP26 in Glasgow is not about some new climate change agreement … it’s about making the Paris Climate Agreement real, actually getting to the level of ambition required….” (Jake Sullivan). “Glasgow is the beginning of this decade’s race…. This is, you know, the first time we’ve gathered since Paris, with the goal of really revamping ambition in a broad way.” (John Kerry).
With nations balking at actually committing suicide as demanded, since COP26 started, the White House has been releasing new programs daily in a flurry of hand-waving to make it appear there is progress in stampeding nations into line. Were these programs to be transformed from promises into actual action, however, they would lead to the misery and death of billions.
Case in point: the formal launching today of the “Global Methane Pledge to Keep 1.5C within Reach,” by the U.S., European Union “and partners.” Leading sources of methane “emissions” identified by the Biden team: oil and gas production, agriculture, and “energy, industry, transportation and other need-to-abate sectors.” Over 100 countries have signed, committing to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030. Pledges, not binding; funding promised. Not on the list of signers: China, India, Russia.
Another: the creation of a “Forest Investor Club,” a network of public and private financial institutions “to scale up investments” in lands around the planet limited to “sustainable agriculture and forestry,” “restored” to an alleged primitive state, etc. “The Forest Investor Club will accelerate the pace, increase the scale, and expand the scope of forest and nature investment,” the White House wrote. Among its founding members: Apple, Conservation International, Convergence Finance, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, Goldman Sachs, The Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the like.
Likewise: “The First Movers Coalition,” led by the State Department, John Kerry, and the billionaires’ World Economic Forum. Described as a “flagship public-private partnership… [of] some of the largest companies in the world across a wide range of industries with hundreds of billions of dollars in purchasing power,” who are to function as “buyers’ clubs” which rig what’s available for purchase for “eight `need-to-abate’ sectors—steel, trucking, shipping, aviation, aluminum, concrete, chemicals, and direct air capture companies.”
