The Climate Action Farce

With much fanfare, Syria, a nation torn asunder in a civil/proxy war, joined the Paris Climate Accords, leaving America as the final holdout.

Whoop-de-lah-di-dah-doo.

Does anyone in his right mind think that Syria is going to engage in “climate action,” which is apparently the new cool-kids tag line? Does anyone think that Assad and his underlings have even the slightest inclination to pursue green or alternative-energy technologies, when war is afoot? Does Syria’s joining suggest any additional credibility to the notion that the world is uniting to fight global warming, with only an irresponsible America standing alone? Of course not.

It does give us a reason to drill down into the Accords themselves and see what’s actually going on. Why would Syria bother joining this pact, when she’s got so much else to worry about? And, what does joining actually mean?

First, the latter. The reality of the Accords is far from what we’re led to believe by the punditry. A nation that joins the Accords pledges to pursue “climate action.” But, it can pledge as much or as little “climate action” as it wishes, it can change its pledge whenever it wants to, it has no obligation to meet its pledge, and there’s no penalty or enforcement mechanism attached to missing a pledge. In other words, being a member carries no actual obligation.

Second, the former. Many of the poorer and third-world nations that joined the accords made their membership contingent upon financial support. In other words, they want to be paid to engage in “climate action.” In other words, the broad support for the Climate Accords is based on an all-reward, zero-risk reality. No wonder that Syria joined – she’s got everything to gain and nothing to lose.

This makes the Paris Accords nothing more than a giant, global con job, intended to fleece first-world treasuries with a virtue-signal smoke screen.

If anyone whines about America’s abandonment of the Accords, it’s worth pointing their farcical nature out to them. Odds are, the whiners know nothing about the Accords beyond the name and the cover story that they’re about saving the planet from global warming.

• About the Author

About Peter Venetoklis

I am twice-retired, a former rocket engineer and a former small business owner. At the very least, it makes for interesting party conversation. I'm also a life-long libertarian, I engage in an expanse of entertainments, and I squabble for sport.

Nowadays, I spend a good bit of my time arguing politics and editing this website.

If you'd like to help keep the site ad-free, please support us on Patreon.