Canada and the UK Busy Crushing the World’s Poor in Attack on Coal – Saving the Profits for Renewables Investors and Financiers says Friends of Science

USA - English

• USA - English

Calgary, Alberta, Canada (PRWEB) October 24, 2017 -- As reported by the Globe and Mail, Oct. 12, 2017, Canada’s Minister of Climate Change and Environment has declared that Canada and the UK will work together to prevent poor countries from using coal, the most abundant, reliable, affordable source of power, says Friends of Science. In effect they are “Saving the Planet on the Backs of the Poor” as noted in a recent blog post by Ottawa energy policy consultant Robert Lyman which summarizes a recent Global Warming Policy Foundation report that shows how the World Bank is also blocking the use of coal.

In a Friends of Science video clip, Steve Goreham, author of "Outside the Green Box: Rethinking Sustainable Development" says climate change activists should focus on solving real world problems and Western countries should stop telling others what to do.

Most of the world's waste water is untreated. An estimated 1.2 billion people – 16% of the global population – do not have access to electricity. Household air pollution from heating and cooking using using solid fuels such as wood and dung is estimated to kill 3.5 million people annually.

“By attempting to block access to coal-fired power generation, Canada, the UK and the World Bank are acting like the ultimate enviro-colonialists,” says Michelle Stirling, Communications Manager for Friends of Science Society. “This seems to be a means of pushing intermittent, unreliable power that will enrich UK and Canadian investors through complex UN Clean Device Mechanism deals, but will crush developing nations financially, leaving them without suitable power generation.”

Wind and solar cannot compete with coal-fired power on price, and they require natural gas or hydro back-up on the grid that can quickly ramp up or down to balance the intermittent performance of renewables. To date, wind and solar only provide 1.4% of the world’s energy - >80% is from coal, oil and natural gas; the balance from hydro, nuclear and biomass.

Coal has been subject to a heavy demarketing campaign in North America by environmental groups like the Sierra Club, funded by millions from renewables investors, as reported in the Washington Times, July 20, 2015: "Sierra Club puts almighty dollar ahead of Mother Earth."

The UK is a center for ‘green’ renewable finance and according to an Environment Canada press release of Oct. 15, 2017, during her recent UK visit, Minister McKenna reportedly met with “a Canadian fund that manages €1 billion in Europe's renewable energy assets.”

Friends of Science says it is increasingly clear that the push for coal phase-out is more about propping up the renewables industry, banks and the institutional investors who enjoy the 20-40 year tax-subsidized wind/solar contracts than it is about benefiting the environment or saving the planet from climate change. Some of these issues are discussed in their pension fund rebuttal reports of earlier this year – “Climate Change Risk Clouds Boardroom Competency” and “Climate Change Insights for Pension Fund Trustees and Beneficiaries.”

Carbon taxes and most of the renewables industry are premised on the theory that carbon dioxide from human industry is the chief factor in human-caused global warming – an issue much in dispute today. The validity of the ‘radiative forcing’ theory (greenhouse gases) has been openly in question in scientific circles since 2005. LINK: nap.edu/read/11175/chapter/1

Friends of Science Society says even in Canada, the proposed coal phase-out for Alberta will triple power rates and destroy Alberta’s present competitive advantage of lower power prices for industry.

About
Friends of Science Society is an independent group of earth, atmospheric and solar scientists, engineers, and citizens, celebrating its 15th year of offering climate science insights. After a thorough review of a broad spectrum of literature on climate change, Friends of Science Society has concluded that the sun is the main driver of climate change, not carbon dioxide (CO2).
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Michelle Stirling, Friends of Science, http://www.friendsofscience.org/, +1 (888) 789-9597, [email protected]