Despite 35 years of “climate initiatives” mandating that people make sacrifices, IEA (International Energy Agency) data shows that both carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and fossil fuel production reached new records high levels in 2023. People living in the US and EU, who have made the most “climate” sacrifices, thus received the exact opposite of what their elected leaders said was necessary to combat allegedly catastrophic climate change.
In its executive summary for 2023, the IEA’s first bullet point is that “global energy-related CO2 emissions grew by 1.1% in 2023…to reach a new record high of 37.4 billion tonnes (Gt).”
Meanwhile, the United Nations says that “commitments made by governments to date fall far short of what is required” to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. People should therefore expect increasingly strident climate mandates and government “commitments” that likely are never met.
The IEA further reported that “emissions from coal accounted for more than 65% of the increase in 2023,” a cause for concern for everyone because coal causes the most deaths per energy unit produced of all the forms of fossil fuels.
In addition, the Ukraine war has constrained natural gas supplies and led to an increase in coal consumption in the EU, particularly of the very harmful brown coal, as the EU’s own data shows.
“Rich nations do what they want, poor nations do what they must,” Dartmouth’s Robert Hargraves wrote in this open letter this week to World Bank President Ajay Banga. The issue at hand for Hargraves was that the World Bank does not (and will not) finance nuclear power generation, including in poor nations. Instead, those poor nations then use fossil fuels for electricity generation instead.
Hargraves called nuclear power “the only realistic, CO2-free route to changing energy poverty to economic prosperity for billions of people in developing nations.”
The previously mentioned all-time record high level of carbon dioxide emissions is calculated, not measured. The metric derives from 2023 also being a year of record high oil, gas and coal production. Oil, natural gas (a.k.a. “gas”), and coal are all fossil fuels.
In other words: citizens in Western countries, particularly the EU, have made major “climate sacrifices” in their lives over the last 35 years, leading to reduced freedom and a reduced standard of living than they otherwise would have had.
For example, fossil fuel driven cars are being regulated out of existence, being replaced by electric cars and all the problems associated with them…yet fossil fuel production and its associated CO2 emissions continue to rise.
The IEA is a supposedly autonomous intergovernmental organization, established in 1974. Its 31 member countries and 13 association countries represent 75% of global energy demand.
The IEA claims that “our current energy system is a major driver of global warming, accounting for about 75% of total greenhouse gas emissions. This means transforming how we produce and consume energy is essential, with the world’s ability to meet its climate goals hinging on the energy sector’s ability to reach net zero emissions by mid-century.”
Yet the IEA’s own data shows the two keys trends going in the opposite direction of what they want.
In response to such data, the IEA, like EU or the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), all carefully calibrate their messaging and narratives. For example, in discussing the (for them) dismal 2023 fossil fuel data, the IEA says that “emissions grew in 2023, but clean energy is limiting the growth.”
Such “our efforts made it less bad that it otherwise would have been” claims have been used by shamans, rain men and other hucksters since the dawn of time.
Such claims are also inconsistent with goals stated by elected leaders and bureaucrats, and inconsistent with representations made to the public.
The IEA frankly admits that “total energy-related CO2 emissions increased by 1.1% in 2023. Far from falling rapidly – as is required to meet the global climate goals set out in the Paris Agreement, CO2 emissions” reached a new record high in 2023 (bold-facing added). Yet they same old failing policies stay in place.
Has climate hysteria run its course? Is it time for a calm and serious energy discussion, one not driven by unwarranted alarmism, ineffective policies, corporate welfare and self-serving politicians?
As always – Lacrimonia.Com reports and our readers decide. Follow us on Facebook to receive notifications when we publish articles.
