Despite Trump's Denials, Climate Change Still Every Bit As Real As Epstein Files

USA skips UN climate summit, but Gavin Newsom's there.

Image credit: Rawpixel, public domain photo

We think we may have mentioned once or twice that Donald Trump hates clean energy and has Hereby Decreed that climate change is not real. We know it’s come up now and again. On his first day in office, he withdrew the US from the Paris climate agreement (for the second time), and since then he’s tried to revive the dying coal industry, and ordered his flying monkey army underlings to reverse every last bit of climate-related policy that Joe Biden put in place.

As a result, it’s no surprise to anyone that the USA is officially absent from the UN’s annual climate summit being held this week and next in Belem, Brazil. In fact, a lot of the diplomats at this year’s COP30 summit are relieved, saying they would far prefer a complete absence of Trump at the meetings than to have the US there pressuring other countries to reverse whatever slim progress they’re making on climate.

But you know who is at COP30? (Besides the omnipresent lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry, a perennial drag against serious progress on decarbonizing, but we’ll set that aside for the moment. Remember, it’ll be on the test, because it’s deadly important.)

Ahem, let’s try that again: You know who’s the most prominent American politician at COP30? California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who’s taking advantage of Trump’s absence to point out that California — with what he says is the world’s fourth-largest economy — is doing a hell of a lot to transition to clean energy. And there just might be some political bonuses for him, too, although he smiles and does the mandatory “not here to talk about 2028” two-step whenever he’s asked about his presidential ambitions. (Fix your willingness to throw trans Americans under the bus and we’ll talk, Gavin. No, we won’t give you a pass on that even if the bus is electric and it’s charged by solar panels and unicorn farts.)

Clean Energy Is Affordable Energy

On energy policy, though, Newsom is making exactly the right points at COP30, pointing out that in ignoring the climate crisis and trying to quash clean energy, Trump is “doubling down on stupid” at a time when clean energy is now growing so rapidly that it’s on the way to eclipse dirty energy, according to a new forecast finding that fossil energy will will be pushed into “terminal decline” by 2030.

The only question is whether that transition can be accelerated in time to minimize the additional damage humans do to the climate, beyond the mess we’ve already locked in. To move that transition forward, Newsom says, the smart move is to talk about clean energy as the economic powerhouse it’s already set to be, at least in the rest of the world.

“It’s about affordability. It’s about time we frame it accordingly,” Mr. Newsom said of his efforts to ramp up renewable energy in his state. “We’re here to frame it in economic terms, in cost-of-living terms.”

Yes please. Right into our veins. Better yet, into our energy grid. We’re at a crucial inflection point, as the nerds say, and the great news is that cleaning up the world’s energy is about better lives for everyone, not wearing hairshirts and living in a cave.

The New York Times Sucks (Again)

For an illustration of just how difficult it can be to actually make that case, though, look no farther than the very New York Times article about Newsom at COP30 (archive link) where we got the quote. Always being New York Times-y, the Grey Lady immediately grumps that economic messaging about clean energy never broke through for that one other guy:

The Biden administration’s sweeping investment in electric vehicles and renewable energy did not resonate with voters in 2024. “We have some work to do as a party, as a nation,” Mr. Newsom said.

Maybe not relying on The New York Times to get the message through might be part of that work, huh?

Worse, the Times’s discussion of Newsom at COP30 then pivots away from considering clean energy as an affordability issue — a point its excellent climate desk regularly discusses — in favor of a far easier cheap shot. Clean, affordable energy? Who wants to hear that? Instead, the piece suggests Newsom’s a big ol’ hypocrite because (like Biden and just about everyone working on climate) he recognizes that the world still runs on oil while we build out the clean energy infrastructure needed to replace it, shame on him. Gotta get bothsides in there.

In fact, concerns about the cost of fuel in California forced Mr. Newsom to go easy on oil and gas lately. Just two years ago, Mr. Newsom was a combative critic of the fossil fuel industry. In 2023, the state sued ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips and others, alleging that they had misled the public about climate change.

But this year, Mr. Newsom enacted changes to make it easier to drill for oil. Asked about that contradiction on Tuesday, he said it was a “pragmatic” move endorsed by the State Legislature.

Not mentioned by the Times? The new drilling was part of a big package of legislation that also increases renewable energy and cuts pollution. Huh. It’s as if energy is complicated.

After that, Newsom’s pledge to sue to prevent Trump from issuing new permits for coastal oil drilling off California rings a bit hollow, by design, because is there really any difference between Newsom and Trump, huh?

Yeah, and even Doktor Zoom charges his electric car from a grid that burns fossil fuel. For now. We would like to improve society somewhat, and yet we participate in society, tut-tut.

Clean Energy Works, And California Is Leading

But Fuck The New York Times, as ever, and let’s get back to why Newsom at COP30 matters, shall we? Speaking at a presser on the first day, Newsom said, “I’m here because I don’t want the United States of America to be a footnote at this conference.” Newsom won’t mind if the world considers California a kind of representative-in-exile for the climate-sane United States that was replaced by the Trump regime. “I think the world sees us in that light, as a stable partner, a historic partner … in the absence of American leadership. And not just absence of leadership, the doubling down of stupid in terms of global leadership on clean energy.”

Why yes, he has been using that phrase in multiple interviews. It’s a good phrase.

As the LA Times points out, California is doing a hell of a lot of things that an an advanced economy should be doing on energy, and thriving while doing it.

California’s carbon market and zero-emission mandates have given the state outsize influence at summits such as COP30, where its policies are seen as both durable and exportable. The state has invested billions in renewables, battery storage and electrifying buildings and vehicles and has cut greenhouse gas emissions by 21% since 2000 — even as its economy grew 81%.

Newsom also underlined that economic message in an interview with the AP Tuesday, warning that Trump’s stupid policies aren’t just bad science, they’re bad for Americans in a world that is moving in a better direction.

“This idea that somehow we can put up walls, we can put up barriers, we could put up tariffs, we put up our middle fingers and just turn our back is lunacy,” Newsom said […]. “And every other country in the world understands that. That’s why every other country in this world is moving in a different direction.”

Newsom pointed out that even oil-dependent countries like Russia and Saudi Arabia are (reluctantly) going greener, and that Trump seems intent on handing the future of energy development to China, which makes no damn economic sense at all.

“We’re ceding cheap energy, green energy, infrastructure, supply chain manufacturing. We’re ceding economic power to other countries, notably China, taking advantage of that absence,” Newsom said. “And they’re going to clean our clock economically unless we wake up to the economic imperative and opportunities of low carbon regrowth.”

Not surpisingly, the White House had nothing but lies to counter with, accusing Newsom of going “all the way to Brazil to tout the Green New Scam, while the people of California are paying some of the highest energy prices in the country.” Don’t worry, America, Trump is absolutely determined to make sure we’re dead last in the future energy economy, and you’ll all feel better about it as clean energy jobs go elsewhere and the next few presidents try desperately to catch up.

Here Comes The Sun (And Wind, And Storage, And Geothermal)

But again, we’re gonna be positive here: All we have to do to join the rest of the world in that cleaner, better future is get rid of the liars and grifters currently running things, who only won a small slice of the vote last year. The latest report from clean energy think tank Ember, also out just in time for COP 30, makes clear that the energy future is electric. The report uses the term “Electrotech,” to incorporate both how we generate clean power, and all the ways we’ll use it. Will the term catch on? Maybe; the technology already is.

Here’s a key takeaway:

Fossil demand has been flat for industrial energy since 2014, for buildings since 2018, for road transport since 2019, and may peak for electricity this year. Two-thirds of countries have already seen peak fossil demand in end-use sectors, & half the world has seen a peak in fossil fuels for electricity. […]

If current trends continue in renewables deployment and electrification, fossil fuel demand will be in decline by 2030. That implies disruption for the fossil fuel sector and the rise of new electrotech winners.

There’s so much more. The analysis notes that the tech has already advanced so rapidly in the last decade that the portion of global energy demand that can be electrified has jumped from just 25 percent in 2000 to 75 percent right now, and that’s not including additional innovations that will keep shrinking the sectors that still rely on fossil fuels. That would include aviation, where there’s not yet an ideal replacement for jet fuel, but where electric and hybrid planes for short-haul passenger and cargo service are already entering service.

And of course there’s China, which keeps setting new records for renewable energy manufacturing and deployment, and which has seen carbon emissions stay flat or decline for 18 months straight even as its economy expands. Yes, China still relies too much on coal, and even its explosion of clean energy isn’t enough to put it on track to meet its Paris goals. But analysts note that China has a history of promising only small gains on climate and then over-delivering in results. The days when American climate deniers could say “China’s doing nothing” are long in the past, and by Crom that’s a competition we need to be part of.

So hey, Wonkers, what would you think of another Book Club? I’ve been meaning to get Bill McKibbins’ latest, Here Comes The Sun, which makes the argument for tough-minded optimism on the clean energy transition, and it might be just the thing for the cold grey days ahead. More to come on this, soon.

And if Gavin Newsom doesn’t get his shit together on trans folks, I’m looking forward to the 2028 candidate who embraces clean tech and affordable energy for all of us.

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[CNBC / Guardian / LAT / Brookings / Common Dreams / AP / Ember / NYT (archive link) / Guardian]

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