The European Union appears undeterred by years of calamitous climate policies, with EU Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen demanding new taxes and other schemes to take green agenda investment into the “trillions”.
Leaders from around the world descended (many of whom on private jets) upon the oil-rich Arabian nation of Dubai for the 28th instalment of the United Nation’s top annual climate summit, in which politicians demand that ordinary citizens bankroll their lofty visions of a so-called green future.
Despite people suffering across Europe under an energy crisis as a result of the war in Ukraine and the years of dumping money into dubious ‘renewable’ energy sources, EU Chief Ursula von der Leyen’s takeaway was to double down on the very same policies that precipitated Europe’s precarious energy situation.
“More is needed,” the German politician urged, proclaiming: “We have to move from billions to trillions.”
The EU leader admitted that to accomplish such a goal, Brussels will need to “find new sources of revenue”. To do so, von der Leyen said that she “fully supports” the plan proposed by Kenyan President William Ruto and French President Emmanuel Macron to impose a global green tax targeting financial transactions to “raise more money for climate action.”
In addition, von der Leyen called for increased efforts to expand “green bonds” to “facilitate the flow of private capital in green projects,” particularly for developing nations. She said that last year, the European Union contributed nearly 30 billion dollars in climate finance to developing countries.
The EU chief also said that there needs to be an expansion of carbon pricing, a central feature of the European Green Deal that imposes taxes on emissions to incentivise businesses to lower their so-called carbon footprint. She said that in the two decades of carbon pricing, the EU has taken in 175 billion euros in revenues from companies, which was then directed to climate change projects.
Finally, von der Leyen highlighted the EU’s 300-billion-euro ‘Global Gateway’ answer to Communist China’s Belt and Road programme, saying that by sending money to developing nations, the European Union would help them “leapfrog into a clean energy future”.
“We Europeans are interested to invest because this diversifies and strengthens our supply chains in these growing new markets. It is the best investment any of us can make,” the EU chief said.
Elsewhere at the United Nations summit, leftist leaders took aim at the West for allegedly causing the supposed climate emergency, with socialist Bolivian Vice President David Choquehuanca saying that “Mother Earth” was in crisis because of “neocolonial, capitalist, imperialist, patriarchal, Western culture.”
“The climate crisis is but the latest chapter in a long history of hypocrisy and lies: The ‘Global North’ is responsible for the global imbalance that we’re seeing,” he said, adding: “They seek permanent growth to the detriment of the Global South.”
The climate summit also saw leaders of 130 countries commit to including cutting emissions from farming a key pillar of their respective green agendas, despite food prices soaring globally as a result of rising energy costs.
While the pledge does not mandate any specific taxes on food production, the declaration will likely see more disputes with farmers, who have waged large-scale protest movements in countries like the Netherlands over environmentalist schemes to shut down their businesses.