Rebecca Hersher’s story on NPR this morning about the COP24 meeting in Poland is illuminating about both climate politics and their shortcomings. When the U.S. delegate, Wells Griffith, commented that "The reality is that countries will continue to use fossil fuels,” the hall filled with laughter, some of which the reporter noted appeared contrived. Considering the meeting was being held in Poland’s coal country, the hypocrisy of the laughter seems undeniable.
For all that Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Donald Trump are accused of tribal politics and demonization of opponents, the same approach is often embraced by climate activists. As the figure below shows, the U.S. has reduced its coal consumption much more rapidly than COP24 host Poland and even Green hero Germany. While the Trump Administration’s attitude towards coal consumption is hardly defensible (at least to moderates like me), the overwhelming attention given to whether or not the Administration “acknowledges” climate change or accepts the scientific consensus reflects the tendency of the media (and their consumers) to focus on the political game rather than the actual situation. For their part, activists seem far more concerned in scoring points against their opponents than achieving anything meaningful.
But also the focus on whizbang tech stories instead of the reality on the ground is somewhat distressing. There has been coverage of the fact that, despite all the promises made over the last two decades, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, and coal use is a primary culprit. Yet the media gives overwhelming priority to renewable energy such as solar in their reporting. Using Google search of news stories for Chinese and Indian solar power versus coal consumption finds the ratio for China is 20 to 1, for India 150 to 1. Yet China uses 20 times as much coal as solar power, and India about 100 times, in other words nearly the reverse of the news stories. The figure below shows the numbers, as well as the fact that, yes, in 2017, solar power use increased in China three times more than coal use, which certainly explains some of the added media coverage (in India, solar power increased negligibly compared to coal).
Many researchers and organizations like the International Energy Agency are making serious efforts to identify the best policies for reducing GHG emissions, such as reducing fossil fuel subsidies. But much more attention should be placed on, for example, large scale substitution of natural gas for coal, reducing deforestation (including that resulting from biofuels production), and cutting methane leakage, which is probably far worse in remote places like Siberia than the United States.
Protests like those in Poland attempting to shame the United States make great press, compared to digging a trench for a natural gas pipeline, but to a large degree they reflect the immaturity of the protesters who seem far more concerned with appearances than results.
