Whether an oil sultan, king or baron, they all borrow from the same playbook. First is denial that the problem exists, then there is disputing the science, and then there is stalling citing humanitarian reasons.
This playbook is not new, it's been used to great success (along with buying media, scientists, doctors and politicians) by the tobacco giants, causing millions of unnecessary deaths and great amount of suffering.
These people have no morals, scruples, and are ready to throw the whole world and its future in the singular pursuit of profit.
At the moment the only thing that surprised me is the amount of shamelessness that is required to host the biggest climate summit as one of the biggest polluters in the world, and also dispute the already established science. The gall of this is beyond me, it's a shameful charade.
The funny part is they have enough sun to power their country manyfold and enough resources/money to build the infrastructure to export solar to other countries.
However they are so backwards in their views that they seem blind or unwilling to accept that the world can't continue on its current course without burning.
$7 trillion dollars of subsidies per year[1]. This doesn't include military budgets which is needed to protect the oil supply. 10 million deaths/year from air pollution[2]. We have deaths/TWH which shows fossil fuels are 1000x -2000x worse[3].
Clicked in your first source. That “7 trillion” is a global number and already includes the writers speculations on the value of those other things
> The other 82 percent of fossil fuel subsidies were implicit. These included tax breaks for oil firms, but also the unpaid cost of climate change and air pollution as a result of burning fossil fuels.
Wild video. I have to admire Mary Robinson, staying firm on asking for a commitment to phase out fossil fuels while Al Jaber accused her of favoritism and ignorance.
This statement seems to be perfectly in line with the climate plans in EU. Natural gas (and oil to a lesser degree) has been delegated as the primary energy source to balance the electricity grid, spearheaded by the green party in Germany. Towards this goals new pipelines were built, old fossil fuel plants got new investments rather than decommissioned, and natural gas was even defined as "green investment" last year.
In Sweden it was a green party leader that said that oil is a natural part of the energy grid. Their argument was that nothing else is cheap enough to be used as grid stabilization while we wait for green hydrogen to become cheaper than oil and natural gas. As such a new fossil fueled plant is being planned to be constructed in the few years.
Outside of scientists there seems to be very few who fully support a complete phase-out of fossil fuels.
Wow. The misogyny, mansplaining, lies, and arrogance of that guy who refused to show his face on Zoom. (Perhaps he was offended women weren't wearing burqas and that he was being disrespected by being talked to by women?) A rational response would be boycott, divest, and sanction these backwards banana republics in league with Saudi Arabia, a nation that butchers journalists into small pieces and funded terrorism.
COP28: We're satire of ourselves and doubling-down on FF profits. <- The absurdity of letting the pollution profiteers take charge. COP is a UN party circuit with occasional impotent talks amounting to nothing. The whole point of it is a paid vacation for government workers and academics.
Whether an oil sultan, king or baron, they all borrow from the same playbook. First is denial that the problem exists, then there is disputing the science, and then there is stalling citing humanitarian reasons.
This playbook is not new, it's been used to great success (along with buying media, scientists, doctors and politicians) by the tobacco giants, causing millions of unnecessary deaths and great amount of suffering.
These people have no morals, scruples, and are ready to throw the whole world and its future in the singular pursuit of profit.
At the moment the only thing that surprised me is the amount of shamelessness that is required to host the biggest climate summit as one of the biggest polluters in the world, and also dispute the already established science. The gall of this is beyond me, it's a shameful charade.