Guest Opinion: Conference in the Holy Land Offers a Glimpse of the Sanity of Climate Policy

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As December, the month of many miracles, approaches, we may see sparks of sanity at the forefront of climate policy.

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For the first time in this writer’s memory, this year’s Conference of the Parties to the United Nations (COP27) ended with several reasons to be optimistic about the prospects for the soundness of climate policy next year.

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Item 1: Negotiations in Egypt ended without commitments for even tighter greenhouse gas (GHG) controls, on top of demands for already unattainable, unaffordable and possibly excessive GHG controls .

UN climate chief Simon Steele is saddened that he hasn’t tightened his belts on the GHG front, but he’s renewed a nonsensical promise by developed countries to put money into developing countries. I’m glad I pulled it out.

If all else fails in these negotiations, the repackaged promise of ‘rich’ countries to send money to ‘poor’ countries will always define success.

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Hell, that seems to be all they care about since they first started the whole game at the Kyoto conference in 1997.

Item 2: Despite asking about 90 countries to phase out their use of oil and gas (probably those without oil and gas resources), there was no such agreement at COP27.

Perhaps because the host country has a major voice on these issues and the conference is in Egypt, the center of oil and gas.

But the holiday miracle here must be the fact that the Canadian delegation to COP27 did not agree to an “oil and gas phase out” plan.

Yes, Canada has reluctantly said “no” to this idea.

Canada’s environment minister, Stephen Guilbeau, basically admitted that such a plan would be too unpopular in Canada’s oil and gas provinces, and that Ottawa would be held up in court until the cows got home. .

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Guilbeault further explained that Canada wants to focus on methane emissions and wants to persuade Canadians to use less electricity and live colder, less energy and poorer lives. .

Item 3: Canada did not send Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Egypt, but for the first time, it set up the Canada Pavilion at the COP with (gasp) representatives of the Canadian oil and gas industry.

Canada seems to realize that oil and gas will continue to be useful in the post-Ukrainian world, and that Canadian industry may play a role in its development and distribution in global markets.

Of course, this is frustrated by environmentalists such as Tzeporah Berman on Twitter.

But that’s the price of progress.

And finally, for the first time in years, Greta Thunberg no longer has to stare at us.

Greta ended all climate change problems and headed for the end of capitalism.

Greta will be replaced by 20-year-old Thunberg protégé Sophia Kiani, a “climate activist” who will represent all young people around the world.

It’s time to hand out the eggnog and celebrate!

Kenneth Green is a senior researcher at the Fraser Institute.