On November 7, over 10,000 delegates descended on Marrakesh, Morocco, for COP-22 and to celebrate the entry into force of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Since the Agreement lacks any enforcement mechanism and is primarily about reporting accomplishments, COP-22 is mainly an annual ritual for climate advocates to travel to beautiful cities, stay in five-star hotels, and talk to each other about how they must save the planet. Their celebration was jolted on November 9 when Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. Rather than a celebration, this meeting is more like a memorial service.
President-elect Trump has made it clear that he has no intention of honoring the agreement and has serious doubts about the impending climate change apocalypse. Although there are formal mechanisms for withdrawing from the Agreement, he can simply send a letter to Congress advising that his Administration will not participate in the Agreement’s requirements or participate in its meetings. That is a start but it is not sufficient to rectify the problems that are imbedded in the bureaucracy. The President and Congress need to use the federal budget and appointments process to move the bureaucratic bias to neutral.
In 2002, the Bush Administration managed the climate science program through the Department of Commerce. The goal was to focus on science issues that were being ignored by the climate establishment that was pouring out self-fulfilling prophecies. Unfortunately, the Commerce program was captured by the bureaucracy and used to support research proving that greenhouse emissions were the problem and suppression of fossil fuel use was the answer. The Obama Administration manages the global change research program through a subcommittee that is part of the Executive Office of the President. Since 2009, climate science programs have increased from $2 billion annually to over $2.6 billion, and total climate change expenditures have increased to over $21 billion, according to the mandated report to Congress on federal climate expenditures. Most of these funds go to support for new energy technologies and energy tax provisions, better knows as subsidies.
