OPINION
Greta Thunberg only has to scowl (as if she has any other expression on that charmless mug) and it’s front page news. In far-away Buenos Aires, a gaggle of left-wingers stamp their feet at Javier Milei and the media are agog.
Tens of thousands of farmers stage monster protests across Europe for months, ultimately forcing the EU into a humiliating backdown, and… crickets from the media.
The European Commission’s roadmap on how to cut emissions by 90% by 2040, which will be published later today, “no longer includes a reference to a 30% reduction target in methane, nitrogen and other gases linked to farming”, the Financial Times reports, citing EU officials. This follows “widespread demonstrations” by farmers in France, Germany, Belgium and Italy, the paper says.
In contrast to the media’s breathless obsessing over a handful of posh nutcases gluing themselves to roads, they’ve barely bothered reporting on the farmers’ protests that have rocked Europe.
Because, while the farmers’ protests are in response to a diverse range of issues, with slight variation according to country, one unifying thread is revolt against the EU and national governments’ attempts to impose green policies, most of them climate-related, that would wreck farmers’ livelihoods.
The newspaper adds: “In a letter to the commission on Monday, the Greens said farmers were ‘trapped in a system that was crushing them’ and Brussels should propose measures including a windfall tax on agri-food companies to support them.” Politico says: “The updated version of the plan, which is still subject to change, framed agriculture in a more positive light compared to earlier drafts.
Many of the EU policies are not dissimilar to the sort of green nuttiness the late, unlamented Labour/Greens government tried to impose on New Zealand. The sort of stuff that no doubt sounds great to an air-conditioned office full of suits in Wellington or Brussels but which will wreak havoc on agriculture in the real world.
More importantly, despite having seen how suicidally dependent “Net Zero” policies made EU countries on Russian gas imports, EU governments were determined to wreak the same havoc on food security.
Of course, Brussels is now trying to pretend that they knew that all along.
“The role the sector plays in the EU’s ‘food sovereignty’ was also emphasised. This reframing is in line with a demand made by the powerful centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) – the political family of top EU executive Ursula von der Leyen and the European Parliament’s largest group.” The outlet adds: “Also excised [from the updated draft] were recommendations for citizens to make changes to their behaviour, like eating less meat, and a push to end fossil fuel subsidies.”
The backdown is exposing the virtue-signalling of Brussels for all to see.
Energy Monitor also reports on the upcoming proposals: “Some are also asking how serious it is to propose ambitious targets when the commission can see that EU national governments are not doing what they need to do to meet the existing 2030 target of 55% compared with 1990 levels. A recent analysis of draft EU national climate plans was dispiriting…The report looked at the national energy and climate plans of five countries: Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. It found them to have ‘significant transparency gaps as regards setting out how the 2030 emission reduction targets will be delivered’.”
It’s all part of a pattern of pushback against Europe’s Climate Cultists.
Elsewhere, Politico reports: “Berlin has agreed to spend €16bn to build four major natural gas plants to meet electricity demand in a major overhaul of the country’s energy grid.” It continues: “The government has described the fossil gas power plants as ‘modern, highly flexible and climate-friendly’ because they will be capable of conversion to use clean-burning hydrogen gas produced from renewable sources. The plants are projected to produce up to 10 gigawatts of electricity. Tenders for the projects will begin soon…Environmental groups remain sceptical, however, with Greenpeace denouncing the strategy as a ‘perfect example of how the hype around hydrogen is just a smokescreen for more fossil gas’.”
Remember that, the next time some swivel-eyed “Net Zero” type tries to convince you that hydrogen is the best thing since wind turbines sliced up endangered birds.
The news from Europe just keeps getting better.
In other European news, the Guardian reports that “the European Green party has picked Terry Reintke and Bas Eickhout as lead candidates to front its campaign ahead of elections in June that polls suggest will result in it losing seats”. Politico adds: “Green parties are falling in the polls amid a withering climate policy backlash and pressure to be more pragmatic. So while most Green parties remain atomic energy sceptics at heart – arguing that new nuclear plants are expensive and slow to build, and produce long-lasting radioactive waste – their united front is crumbling.”
Carbon Brief
With nearly half of the world’s democracies going to the polls this year, things are decidedly looking up.