Today’s Soaring Energy Prices Are Only the Beginning

Many western donors love the idea that instead of dirty, coal-fired power-plants, poor nations should ‘leapfrog’ straight to cleaner energy sources such as off-grid solar technology. The World Bank is at the forefront of these efforts, no longer funding coal energy projects.

Off-grid solar projects begin with grand intentions, but too often end with recipients barely better off. We can see this in the small Pacific island nation of Fiji, where the government – advocates of strong global climate policy – teamed up with a Japanese technology company to deliver off-grid solar power.

A new survey shows that many young people are terrified of climate change. Echoing what they have heard from alarmed campaigners, journalists and politicians, they are urging drastic policies based on the claim that the "climate apocalypse" is becoming more and more deadly.

A closer look at the data, however, does not support this narrative at all. Over the past century, climate-related deaths have dropped an astounding 96%. And despite the sensationalist reporting about fires, heat and floods, 2021 is on track to achieve a century-long climate-related death risk decline of 99.7%.

The suburb of Alajo is about as far from the posh hotels of Paris as you could get. But the bureaucrats and politicians here in France are negotiating a climate treaty to ‘help the world’s poorest’ including billions of dollars of guarantees of "climate aid" to developing nations.

I’ve argued in this blog that this kind of aid isn’t what’s wanted. I’ve pointed to a massive global survey of 8 million people showing that people in the world’s poorest countries rank climate policy last after other policy priorities.