Funding Pauses - ORIGINAL CONTENT

The Trump Administration has paused funding of climate change research and of numerous climate related initiatives and incentives. The pauses are intended to permit the new department and agency leadership to identify how the funding is moving into the markets, who is receiving the funding and for what they are using the funding.

The Administration has been accused of taking a sledgehammer to the projects rather than using a scalpel to carefully dissect the range of projects and defund those it judges to be unworthy of funding. Unfortunately, many of the ongoing or proposed projects have been funded through grants to NGOs which then determine which projects will be funded and at what levels. That approach effectively removes Executive Branch agency managers from direct oversight and control of the projects.

Using a “scalpel” approach to analyzing the large number of individual projects and activities is a laborious and time-consuming process, during which funding continues to flow to the projects regardless of their value. While the funding flowing to individual projects and activities might be relatively modest, the total funding at stake is $ billions. The “sledgehammer” approach effectively halts the flow of funding to all projects and activities until the projects and activities have been evaluated and continued funding approved or terminated.

One type of project which is almost certain to be terminated is tactical projects which use unrealistic concentration pathways and overly sensitive climate models to create scary scenarios intended to scare the populace into accepting radical climate policies. These studies are designed to support and reinforce the consensus climate crisis narrative which is not accepted by the Trump Administration.

Projects intended to advance understanding of the climate and how and why it changes are likely to receive continued funding as the review process proceeds. Such projects have largely been ignored by the IPCC, as they do not universally support and advance the consensus climate change narrative.

The Administration has also paused funding for the participation of US government funded scientists in the IPCC Assessment Report Process, since the process does not assess all relevant research, but focuses on research which supports or advances the climate change consensus. The Administration is also frustrated with the process of developing the IPCC Summary for Policymakers, which is driven by politicians and does not represent a true summary of the conclusions of the IPCC Working Groups, but rather a source of political and media climate crisis hype.

The Administration has also paused funding for the UN Green Climate Fund and the UN Loss and Damage Fund. The Administration is not supportive of the intended activities and projects to be funded by the Green Climate Fund and is suspicious of the standards of evidence to be used to determine incremental loss and damage alleged to have been caused by climate change.

The Administration is also likely to eliminate or dramatically reduce US funding for and participation in the UNFCCC Conferences of the Parties, which have become “all sound and fury, signifying nothing”. (HT: William Shakespeare)