“Environmental groups are among the worst of these hypocrites. We want to electrify but oh, no, we can’t build new high voltage power transmission corridors. The hypocrisy is everywhere.”

 

My title here is quite a mouthful, I admit. As I write this, I am headed to Dubai for COP 28. And I do so with mixed emotions. As you read this, COP will of course be over and a whole host of new pledges and promises will have been made by its attendees. Unfortunately, very few of these pledges will be honoured, if history is any indication.

The most famous COP was in Paris in 2015 when the world essentially promised to manage climate change by limiting future temperature increases. There were then, and have been since, a whole slew of commitments by governments and industry to reduce carbon emissions. These were all made with good intentions but—excepting some important corporate players who are taking these commitments seriously—very little has been done to make meaningful progress toward the overarching goals of the Paris accord.

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