OPINION:
The world’s elite are fueling their private jets in advance of Thursday’s kickoff ceremony for the 30th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP30). No expense has been spared by Brazil, the host nation, which clear-cut a path through the Amazon rainforest to ease the environmental warriors’ journey to the exotic locale.
Socialist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spent millions of dollars readying Val-de-Cans International Airport to receive the expected influx of Gulfstreams and Learjets. The terminal is adding VIP rooms and upgrading the air conditioning system to guarantee guests aren’t troubled by sweltering South American temperatures before being whisked in limousines past the favelas to the site of the convention, which ends Nov. 21.
Heads of state and assorted celebrities will enjoy the protection of Brazil’s military, which has stationed an aircraft carrier nearby. Security measures ensure neither beggars nor protesters approach the “blue zone,” lest potentates be disturbed as they lounge in five-star accommodations.
President Trump is the most prominent global leader to call the shindig a waste of time. In his inimitable way, he let them know at the General Assembly meeting in September by rattling off several decades’ worth of warnings of weather-related cataclysms that never materialized.
“All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong. They were made by stupid people that have cost their countries fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success. If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail,” he said.
The White House won’t even bother dispatching low-level officials to dignify the event, which is a diplomatic insult in its own right.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sent a more polite letter declining her invitation. Chinese President Xi Jinping is also a likely no-show. The Middle Kingdom gains a considerable competitive advantage when the rest of the developed world cripples its manufacturing base by adopting climate targets crafted to promote green energy boondoggles such as windmills and solar panels. He has no reason to go.
Erstwhile climate agitator Bill Gates has decided it’s time to tone down the alarmism. Last week, he urged summit participants to “refocus on the metric that should count even more than emissions and temperature change: improving lives. Our chief goal should be to prevent suffering, particularly for those in the toughest conditions who live in the world’s poorest countries.”
Mr. Gates must have noticed that the 2024 presidential election changed the game. Had Kamala Harris emerged victorious, COP30 would have been a big deal. America would have signed on to the “net zero” proposal imposing an unprecedented global tax on international shipping. Mr. Trump’s team threatened to sanction any country that went along with it.
USAID would still be open, and nongovernmental climate grifters would be financing their uneconomic schemes with Uncle Sam’s checkbook. Under Presidents Biden and Obama, the agency was responsible for a third of U.S. climate expenditures.
This year’s cocktail parties in Belem, Brazil, are likely to be more sober as big shots grapple with the nightmarish prospect of running out of other people’s money and leaving unable to implement their fantasies.
The Taliban, which spent months campaigning for a speaking slot, may be the only faction excited about sending a delegation this year. The winds of public opinion have shifted. It remains to be seen whether COP30 attendees will be resilient enough to adapt.
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