Part One: Biden's cloudless summer turns into a summer of joy
Unbelievable things happen when we least expect it. If you remember, I wrote about how Joe Biden never catches a break a few weeks ago. Boy, did that change over the last couple of weeks.
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia — the man who stood in the way of a sweeping climate legislation proposed by the Biden administration — finally yielded and struck a deal last week. The man went from being the friend-of-the-fossil-fuel-industry to being the most disliked man of the coal lobby.
While the provisions in the new bill are smaller than the $555bn earmarked for climate programmes in Biden’s original Build Back Better bill, the renamed Inflation Reduction Agreement 2022 would still be the largest single investment in clean energy and climate programmes in US history.
Senator Krysten Sinema of Arizona, infamously centrist within the democratic camp, also announced yesterday that she will back the new bill. This was after assurances of additional drought funding to States, including Arizona, among a few other changes.
The revised legislation is due to be released tomorrow.
Part Two: We are taking significant climate action; we are also producing more coal and gas
Australia’s new Labour government passed a climate legislation in its lower house of the parliament to bind the country to cut emissions by 43% by 2030, from 2005 levels.
Australia had long been a climate laggard.
Nothing captures Australia’s historical position on climate like this video of Scott Morrison, the country’s Prime Minister up until May of this year.
This is from 2017, when Scott Morrison was the Treasury Minister.
While it is safe to say that the country’s climate ambition has come a long way in half a decade, it is not fully clear which way it’s headed.
Australia’s economy significantly benefited from lucrative coal exports during the pandemic, amidst a time the world witnessed widespread energy shortages. The government is still not backing a complete ban on new oil and gas exploration, something that Pacific Island leaders have been pushing Australia to do to reduce the impact of climate change on the region.
Pat Conroy, Australia’s minister for the Pacific, said in a statement during the Pacific Islands Forum held in Fiji last month, that “[if] Australia stopped exporting coal and gas and it wasn’t a commensurate reduction in global demand for coal and gas, there wouldn’t actually be a reduction in global emissions.”
Analysis by climate activist group the Sunrise Project found that the Albanese government could face decisions on whether to approve up to 27 coal mining developments – 13 greenfield coalmines and 14 extensions of existing mines – based on applications lodged under national environment laws.
Part 3: We got oil in our rainforests. Want oil?
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is auctioning off vast amounts of land for oil investments. It wouldn’t otherwise be a problem. Except, the designated land parcels for auction extend into world’s largest tropical peatlands and one of the most significant gorilla sanctuaries in the world.
There is a fascinating backdrop to this: Just this last November, the current president, Félix Tshisekedi, endorsed a 10-year agreement to protect the same rainforests at the COP 26 in Glasgow. This agreement guaranteed $500 million donor investments into the DRC, for the first five years of a 10-year period.
Why then the reversal, you ask?
Tosi Mpanu Mpanu, the nation’s lead representative on climate issues and an adviser to the minister of hydrocarbons, had this to say:
[…] earn enough revenue to help the struggling nation finance programs to reduce poverty and generate badly needed economic growth.
That’s our priority, […] Our priority is not to save the planet.
The running theme across the three parts is fairly obvious: national priorities supersede planetary priorities.
In the case of the US, the change of heart by senators who previously didn’t back a climate legislation is because to the paranoia about national energy security. This is especially more pronounced, thanks to the Russian war. It’s not like it doesn’t have sweeteners for the oil and gas industry. The bill includes subsidies to oil and gas plants that build carbon capture and storage infrastructure. It also reverses a previous suspension of offshore oil and gas auctions, among others. To be fair, it also includes methane penalties for emissions that exceed federal limits (among others).
Australia’s climate plans target continuing to take advantage of fragile energy systems across the world, by refusing to take a position on greenfield coal and gas projects. Even if that means an existential threat to islands in the neighbouring regions.
The Congolese officials have made their position abundantly clear. And they only seem to be flashing light at the hypocrisy of our resource-hungry world. It is somehow okay to mine and benefit from cobalt and lithium, key to batteries and renewable energy, but not oil. Congo is just saying they get to pick what resource benefits them.
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Now, who is to say otherwise to anyone?