Andrew Bolt: Forget Paris Agreement, this deal is folly
THE Paris Agreement chains Australians to the world’s global warming madness and, for 999 of 1000 Aussies, it means nothing, writes Andrew Bolt.
Andrew Bolt
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YOU wonder why your electricity prices have doubled? Why some pensioners don’t now dare heat their freezing homes?
Let me tell you about Paris Agreement. This is the treaty that chains Australians to the world’s global warming madness, and which former Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Tuesday said must now be torn up.
Yes, Abbott was on Wednesday savaged by the Turnbull Government as a hypocrite who’d actually signed us up to this deal in the first place.
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That’s a red herring. Thank God that Abbott, at least, now realises we were conned. Shame on the Turnbull Government for not realising that, too.
Let me be clear: the Paris agreement was formally ratified only two years ago so can’t itself be blamed for all the devastation caused by more than a decade of global warming policies — policies which helped to shut nine of our coal-fired power stations in just six years.
But it does now stop Australia from doing what is needed to stop this destruction.
For 999 of 1000 Australians, this Paris agreement means nothing. That suits Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a warmist, because if you actually knew how it threatens your jobs and wealth you’d be ropeable.
So let me cut through all the bull and the evasions.
WHAT IS THE PARIS AGREEMENT?
It is an international treaty signed in Paris that forces us to cut our emissions of the invisible gasses — not soot — accused of causing dangerous global warming.
Australia must cut emissions of gasses such as carbon dioxide and methane by at least 26 per cent of 2005 levels by 2020. Other countries have different targets.
IS GLOBAL WARMING A DANGER?
No, or not yet. The planet has warmed far less than the United Nations’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted. In Australia the predicted disasters have not occurred: our dams have not drained, the drought is not permanent, cyclones have actually decreased. The world has had record grain crops.
WILL THIS DEAL STOP GLOBAL WARMING?
No. Professor Bjorn Lomborg has calculated that the United Nations’ own climate models show that the cuts promised under this agreement — if achieved — would slow warming by just 0.05 of a degree.
WHAT DIFFERENCE WILL AUSTRALIA MAKE?
None. Our emissions are too small — just 1.5 per cent of the world’s man-made emissions, which are themselves just 3 per cent of all emissions. Chief Scientist Alan Finkel admitted that even if Australia shut down completely, the effect on temperatures would be “essentially nothing”.
ARE BIG EMITTERS PULLING THEIR WEIGHT?
No. The Paris agreement lets China, the world’s biggest emitter, nearly double its own emissions. The United States, the second biggest, has torn up the agreement. India, the third biggest, is also allowed to increase its emissions. A report last month by Climate Action Network Europe found that all 28 member nations of the European Union weren’t meeting their own targets.
WHAT FOOL SIGNED US UP?
Abbott signed the deal in 2015, believing he could still back out if it turned sour. But Turnbull ratified it in 2016, locking us in.
WILL THIS AGREEMENT HURT US?
Yes. The Prime Minister says we must cut our emissions under this agreement, which means forcing us to use more expensive green alternatives such as wind and solar power. This also makes it harder for cheap coal-fired generators to stay in business.
Abbott says there’s “no plausible evidence” that Turnbull’s alleged compromise to bring down prices — a new National Energy Guarantee — can work: “The government is kidding us when it says that it’s about reducing prices when there’s an emissions target, plus a reliability target, but no price target.”
The key designer of the guarantee, Kerry Schott, chair of the Energy Security Board, conceded last year: “I don’t think anybody can guarantee a price reduction.”
Result: power prices will stay high. Intensive users of electricity, such as smelters, will go out of business and electricity for the poor will seem a luxury.
In fact, a Wollongong University survey of the homes of the old and poor in parts of NSW showed many were too cold, with their owners too scared to heat them because of the cost.
Cold homes are linked to the spike in deaths in Australia — more than 5000 — each winter.
To sum up: the Paris Agreement is a useless fix to a fake catastrophe that hurts more than it helps.
It binds Australians while freeing the world’s biggest emitters.
Why on earth are we still part of it?
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