It was the shotgun pump heard ‘round the world. It was something akin to having Harvey Weinstein oversee the drama department at an all-girls high school. Fossil fuels, it turns out, have almost nothing to do with climate change. Poor little gas and oil, why are we so bullying those wonderful natural resources?
The current president of the United Nations COP28 meeting, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber — you read that right! — was heard making precisely that statement a few weeks ago. This week, he is overseeing the “most important” assembly of world leaders and scientists, all of whom fly to far-off spots and live in big, air-conditioned hotels, to talk about really important things like how to cut carbon emissions. (Hint: Don’t fly thousands of miles and spend a week in air-conditioned rooms.)