“Let me be clear … COP30 will close with a political text without mentioning fossil fuels phase-out. It does not mention fossil fuel phase-down. It does not provide a pathway to end deforestation. It does not mention the very causes of the crisis. Nothing. Zero. Silence.” (- Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez, below)
Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez, self-described “He/Him; TIME100 Climate 2025; Special Representative for Climate Change of Panamá; Inaugural Obama Scholar; Pritzker Environmental Genius Award Finalist 2023,” summarized COP30 as follows.
Dear friends, colleagues, and every person who cares about life on this planet,
I will be brutally honest: the COP and the UN system are not working for you. They have never really worked for you. And today, they are failing you at a historic scale.
Ten years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement, the negotiators that your governments sent to COP30 are not defending your future.…
“By increasing natural gas capacity by 13%, [the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Project] will deliver stable energy supply that ensures small businesses, affordable housing developments, and new industries have the power they need to operate and grow. NESE is projected to save New Yorkers up to $6 billion over the next 15 years….”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul is an anti-energy governor, joining California’s Gavin Newsom. But the magical energies of wind and solar, replete with battery backup, have not delivered. Natural gas, in particular, is the phantom fuel for affordable, reliable. least-cost electricity.
New York State’s infamous climate law, Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, is in big trouble. With unachievable targets–a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and 85 percent by 2050 from baseline 1990 levels–the law envisions 100 percent zero-emission electricity by 2040 with a Climate Action Council and a Scoping Plan to reach these targets.…
“Subsidies like the DOE’s guarantees can incentivize firms to prioritize short-term gains over long-term compliance. Sunnova’s aggressive sales tactics, which targeted vulnerable consumers, were enabled by its belief that federal backing insulated it from accountability.” (Issac Lane, below)
MasterResource has chronicled the rise and fall of the large, government-enabled rooftop solar company, Sunnova Energy International, Inc. Led by the toothy Enron-ex John Berger (who made millions of dollars at the expense of just about everyone else, including taxpayers), Sunnova is yet another case study of business failure under political capitalism (versus free-market capitalism).
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