Trump administration holds pro-coal event at Bonn climate conference

[riversedge]

Trump administration holds pro-coal event at Bonn climate conference http://bit.ly/2zCQ4Gd

Link to tweet

https://thinkprogress.org/white-house-promotes-coal-in-bonn-e839e65fc410/


It's like "promoting tobacco at a cancer summit."
Mark Hand


Nov 13, 2017, 4:49 pm


Rather than presenting a strategy for meeting the goals of the Paris climate agreement, the Trump administration’s delegation to the United Nations’ climate conference in Bonn, Germany, is using the talks to promote the U.S. coal industry. At a U.S. government-sponsored event on Monday, for example, officials invited a top executive from St. Louis-headquartered coal giant Peabody Energy to help tout the benefits of burning coal in meeting the world’s energy needs.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who serves as the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy for cities and climate change, said Monday that “promoting coal at a climate summit is like promoting tobacco at a cancer summit.”

Dave Banks, Trump’s special assistant for international energy and environment, countered that climate activists fail to understand world energy demand. “This panel is only controversial if we choose to bury our heads in the sand and ignore the realities of the global energy system,” Banks said.
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The phrase “clean coal” refers to expensive and mostly non-commercial technologies that reduce pollution and capture carbon dioxide when coal is burned. Even Robert Murray, CEO of Murray Energy, the country’s largest privately held coal-mining company, doesn’t believe in that. “Carbon capture and sequestration does not work,” Murray said in July. “It is neither practical nor economic.”

At the climate talks, officially known as the 23rd United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, participating nations hope to hammer out the details of exactly how to implement the Paris agreement. The talks are taking place as the United States has ceded the world stage on climate action, an attitude typified by the Trump administration’s decision to officially announce its intent to withdraw from the agreement in June.

Climate protesters interrupted the panel discussion as Barry Worthington, executive director of the U.S. Energy Association, was emphasizing the importance of U.S. energy production. The protesters sang a rendition of “God Bless the USA” that pointed to fossil fuel executives as responsible for rolling back action on climate. During the interruption, attendees displayed a banner that said “We the People,” with “Fossil Fuel CEOs” crossed out.

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About 200 protesters disrupted a Trump administration-hosted event on coal and nuclear energy at the U.N. climate talks in Bonn, Germany on November 13, 2017. CREDIT: AP Photo

[democratisphere]

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True reality no longer matters. Corporate and TV Reality, where nothing is actually real, has completely taken over.