A massive disappointment

FOLLOW US SUBSCRIBE   The effort to somehow slow global warming took a step backward when envoys at a United Nations conference last weekend watered down language they settled on in previous years. Delegates from almost 200 nations left Madrid agreeing only on the "urgent need" to make deeper cuts to emissions. They shelved work on adding market mechanisms as a tool for countries to meet their goals, and couldn't agree on how to finance the climate fight. —Josh Petri   "No one can be proud. We are really lacking the big countries, the big economies to understand that we need action." —Krista Mikkonen, Finland's environment minister, summing up the latest UN climate meeting.     Top stories Businesses from banks to Big Oil were also disappointed with the outcome of the climate talks. Executives had hoped the conference would end with a new rulebook for carbon markets, ending what has been an era of economic uncertainty. In Chile it was a drought. In France, it was high fuel taxes mean to combat rising emissions. In Syria it was crop failures that drove up the price of bread. Around the world, the climate crisis is sparking social revolt. This was, of course, predicted. The choking haze blanketing Sydney is turning Australia's biggest city into a veritable laboratory, offering the world better insight into what toxic air from wildfires will do to humans. The U.S. and the European Union have recently rolled out massive so-called Green (New) Deals. The two plans have identical goals and (almost) matching branding, but the policies are oceans apart when it comes to the means of delivery. Slowing global warming by sucking carbon dioxide out of the air is a complicated and energy-intensive endeavor. Now, some critics are arguing "direct air capture" is also a form of greenwashing by the main perpetrators of the planetary crisis. They are pointing to the involvement of the biggest sources of climate changing fossil fuel: oil companies.  Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and Occidental Petroleum intend to use captured CO2 to suck up even more oil from the ground—oil that can of course be sold and burned, further accelerating the global warming carbon capture is supposedly meant to arrest.     What we've been reading American freight railroads have cast themselves as heroes in the fight against climate change, arguing that rail is the most efficient way to ship cargo. Well, they've also spent the last 30 years waging a campaign to discredit climate science and oppose almost any federal climate policy. Plans to combat global warming and shift to renewable energy sources are nothing new. What's new, however, is that such plans increasingly cite estimates of their employment impacts. There's mounting evidence that economic and environmental goals could both be met. Here is a real headline from automotive blog Jalopnik:  K-Pop Superstars BTS Become Formula E Ambassadors to Raise Climate Change Awareness. When you think it through, it's nowhere near as absurd as it sounds.    You received this message because you are subscribed to the Bloomberg Climate Changed newsletter.     Unsubscribe | Bloomberg.com | Contact Us Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022