Commentary

From “Day One” of the Biden administration, when the president singled out our reentering the Paris Accord on climate change as a priority, he has referred to climate change as a major threat to our existence.

It didn’t come as a surprise.  During the October 22, 2020 presidential debate, he declared, “I would transfer away from the oil industry.  The oil industry pollutes, significantly.”

As recent as November, while addressing global warming as a central domestic and international issue, President Biden called climate change “the ultimate threat to (our) economy.”

So, when we learned that he would not be attending the climate summit – COP28 – in Dubai, questions arose.  It seems as though the Israel-Hamas “thing,” as climate envoy John Kerry speculated, was more important than the conference on a such a serious threat to our planet.

“(Biden’s absence) sends a message that there’s not much to be done by sending a leader,” said David Victor of the Brookings Institute.

After all, King Charles III and Pope Francis were there, among 200 leaders, dropping thousands of dollars in Dubai’s restaurants and resorts.  The leftist New York Times said, “Climate activists are likely to be angered by Mr. Biden’s decision to forgo the talks.”

As fear mounted among the thousands of attendees that the conference was going to yield a watered-down resolution on the elimination of fossil fuels, Kerry said it “doesn’t meet the test,” adding “I, like most of you here, refuse to be a part of a charade” of not phasing out fossil fuels.  “This is a war of survival.”

He has, however, been part of the climate change charade.

In the end, Kerry wasn’t forced to return home with his tail between his legs as the 200 representative countries agreed to a “transition” from fossil fuels in a just, orderly and equitable manner.

That didn’t stop the UN from releasing a statement that the agreement signals the “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era. “We can’t keep kicking the can down the road,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, “we are out of road and almost out of time.”

President Biden did find time to issue a statement on the COP28 agreement.

Reminding us of his action to return the United States to the Paris Accord on his first day in office restored America’s global climate leadership, he referred to the COP28 agreement of transitioning away from fossil fuels as a historic milestone.

Again, while referring to the climate “crisis” as a “existential threat of our time,” he turned to the creation of “clean energy jobs, revitalizing communities, and improving our quality of life.”

In the nearly three years of his presidency, however, this is more hyperbole, to use one his favorite words.

“Don’t believe the hype that governments are phasing out fossil fuels,” was the opinion of the Wall Street Journal editorial board.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.