Reuters Article Notices the Climate Agenda Doesn’t Work

Marc Morano pointed to an article in Reuters by a British guy expounding on the policy failures that have done nothing to reduce emissions from coal, oil, and gas. They call these views ‘Breaking Views,’ although they have been blatantly obvious since the climate issue first became an issue.

The more the West tries to electrify everything, the more it needs oil, coal, and gas. They never had a plan that would work, and still don’t, and all for a problem that may exist 100 years from now. They are overseeing the de-industrialization of the West. They are impoverishing us all, and the poor the most.

Once I saw they were ranting about net zero without nuclear, I knew it was just another grievance industry issue ripe for corruption. Once the West got into it, they couldn’t admit they were wrong, so it continues.

Feb 27 (Reuters Breakingviews) – The pursuit of net zero carbon emissions has been a resounding failure. Despite trillions of dollars spent on renewable energy, hydrocarbons still account for over 80% of the world’s primary energy and a similar share of recent increases in energy…

— Marc Morano (@ClimateDepot) February 28, 2025

From the article, trillions of dollars spent for less than nothing. Solar and wind have only grown to 3.5% and the reason is clear — it is intermittent and a poor substitute. Storage and removal of waste are also problems.

LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters Breakingviews) – The pursuit of net zero carbon emissions has been a resounding failure. Despite trillions of dollars spent on renewable energy, hydrocarbons still account for over 80%, opens new tab of the world’s primary energy and a similar share of recent increases in energy consumption, according to The Energy Institute. Coal, oil and natural gas production are at record highs. Emissions of greenhouse gases continue to rise inexorably. The financial markets were already losing confidence in the energy transition before Donald Trump returned to the White House. A more realistic approach to climate policy is urgently needed.

Solar and wind power have grown to a mere 3.5% of primary energy production. The levelised cost of renewable energy – which measures of the net present value of electricity produced over a plant’s lifetime – has declined sharply over the years. But this has not resulted into lower electricity prices. In fact, as the share of the energy mix provided by renewables has risen, electricity prices have tended to increase. That’s because wind and solar power are intermittent. Since storing energy in batteries is uneconomic, traditional sources of power are still needed as backup, which is expensive.

Germany and UK still haven’t gotten the memo. They are de-industrializing and have the highest electricity rates. Trying to eliminate the so-called fossil fuels puts every nation’s national security at risk while making them poorer. We don’t even know if people are the cause of climate anything, but what does it even matter if we kill people in other ways?

Germany and the United Kingdom, which get a relatively large share of their electricity from renewables, also suffer from the world’s highest electricity costs. This is partly due to the Ukraine war, which exposed the risks inherent in Europe’s historical dependence on Russian gas and domestic bans on hydraulic fracturing. High energy costs have crippled domestic manufacturing. German industrial production is down 15% from its peak, according to Andy Lees of MacroStrategy Partnership. German chemical company BASF (BASFn.DE), opens new tab last year announced it was scaling back, opens new tab domestic production. Britain’s last remaining blast-furnace steelworks at Port Talbot closed last October. “The European Union and the United Kingdom present the sternest warning against attempts to force emissions reductions while neglecting the physical realities that distinguish hydrocarbons from modern renewables, such as wind and solar,” Chris Wright, then the CEO of Liberty Energy, wrote, opens new tab last year. Wright is now the U.S. energy secretary.

China and other so-called developing countries counteract every good thing the West tries to do.

The People’s Republic currently consumes more than half the world’s annual coal supply and last year started construction of coal-fired electricity plants with an output equivalent to twice Britain’s total generating capacity. India, which like China gets most of primary energy from coal, is also rolling out many new coal-fired plants. Meanwhile Trump last month signed an executive order to withdraw the United States, the world’s second-largest producer of greenhouse gases, from the Paris Agreement for the second time. The president wants to increase domestic production of oil and gas. His administration hopes cheaper energy – which includes some forms of renewable power – will encourage a U.S. manufacturing renaissance. It also plans to increase exports of natural gas, much of which will end up in Europe.

They discovered that funding is not endless.

The energy expert Vaclav Smil has likened, opens new tab the costs of the planned energy transition to those incurred by a nation fighting total war for decades on end. The era of zero interest rates created a sense that the supply of capital was infinite and its cost negligible. Rising interest rates dispelled that illusion. The economics of wind and solar power, with their large upfront investment costs and relatively low operating expenses, have been upended. Wood Mackenzie calculates, opens new tab that every 2 percentage point increase in the risk-free rate raises the levelised cost of renewable electricity by around 20%.

Financial markets have got the message. The S&P Global Clean Energy Transition Index is down around 65% from its peak in early 2021. Over the same period, the S&P World Energy Index, comprised of oil and gas producers, has nearly doubled. Orsted (ORSTED.CO), opens new tab, the world’s largest wind farm operator, recently slashed its capital spending plans and dropped its targets for delivering renewable energy.

No one is allowed to challenge the climate religion, which is one of the issues that gets this site censored. However, we have to keep trying because the climate priests are spreading misinformation. The believers leading the movement are keeping people in the dark and scaring people to death with an emphasis on brainwashing children.

It’s sinister indeed.

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