Shocking and Sad

Last May the G7 countries agreed to end taxpayer funding for oil, gas and coal projects overseas. The G7 countries include the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Italy, France and Japan.

The seventh country is Canada. This move fits in nicely with Prime Minister Trudeau’s view that we must wean ourselves from fossil fuels to fight climate change. Canada is a world leader in oil and natural gas production with massive reserves, particularly in oil. (Canada produces more oil than the United Arab Emirates and that fact can’t help one from wondering why Biden goes to the Emirates begging for increased production when Canada is right next door.) It just helps cement the probability that when the world must eventually turn to nuclear much of Canada’s oil and gas will still be in the ground. However, there is a light in that tunnel — Canada is a top producer of uranium and one of the world’s large exporters.

What is tragic about the G7’s decision is the impact the above decision will have on the poor countries and their people. As Dr. Bjorn Lomborg says in a recent article, “Solar and wind are incapable of delivering the power needed for industrialization, powering water pumps, tractors and machines — all the ingredients needed to lift people out of poverty. As rich countries are discovering, solar and wind energy remain fundamentally unreliable. No sun or wind means no power.

“Battery technology offers no answers: Globally today, there are only enough batteries to power global average electricity consumption for 1 minute and 15 seconds. Even by 2030, with projected rapid battery scale-up, they would last less than 12 minutes. For context, every German winter, when solar is at its minimum, near-zero wind energy is available for at least five days, or more than 7,000 minutes.”

Dr. Lomborg adds “This is why the rich world is on track to continue to mostly rely on fossil fuels for decades. The International Energy Agency estimates that even if all current climate promises are delivered, fossil fuels will still constitute two-thirds of the rich world’s energy in 2050.”

From a human kindess perspective, all of which makes the G7’s decision shocking and sad for about 4 billion poor people.