IS THEAIR COMING OUT OFTHE BALLOON?
Erik Bye
November 10, 2025
Now there is an exciting report on WUWT, about the COP30 meeting in Belem, Brazil: Is COP30 subdued because of a Trump effect?
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/10/27/is-subdued-cop-30-a-trump-effect/
By David Vojick
COP30
The mainstream press’s run-up to COP30 is the most muted I have ever seen, and I have seen them all. No grand global plans or demands for astronomical sums of money. Probably a Trump effect – but as a researcher without hard evidence, I will not claim it, just point out the possibility.
What is missing is easy to see. This is the stark demand for trillions of dollars in “financial flows” from developed to developing countries via various UN funds.
If payments are mentioned at all, they now tend to be in hundreds of billions a year, not trillions. Note that a few hundred billion is still ridiculous, but it's much less than trillions, a new low profile.
Reduced Economy at COP30
President Trump has done several big things to contribute to this lack of economic greatness. He is pullingAmerica out of the ParisAgreement, which came into effect in January. He denounced climate alarmism as a colossal fraud to the UN GeneralAssembly, practically to their faces.
On the economic side, he has dismantled the USAgency for International Development (USAID), which threw billions of dollars a year around the world in climate money. Many other US agencies have also dismantled their climate spending.
Thus, it is quite clear that no climate change “financial flows” will come from America in the coming years. The other developed countries, some of which are still rabid about climate, cannot compensate for the loss ofAmerica.
The
developed countries are struggling
In addition, and this may be another reason for the dismal COP, these other developed countries are experiencing serious economic problems. Ironically, some of these energy cost crises are caused by poorly thought-out climate policies. This is certainly true for the EU and the UK.
Note that the rhetoric about huge “financial flows” was mostly motivational. It had little to do with the actual work program of the COP, so it will continue, albeit more cautiously, in terms of costly national commitments.
The loss and damage program is getting more cautious
The best example of this newfound caution is perhaps the program that promised to be the largest of all financially. This is the so-called loss and damage program, under which developed countries would pay developing countries for all the bad weather they suffered. That plus non-weather-related events like forest fires and sea level rise.
And that’s because all this damage is claimed to be due to climate change. In fact, they have created meaningless language to codify this claim. Every major weather event is now called a “climate event.” The green press keeps using this ridiculous terminology.
Billions require trillions
Of course, the potential losses and compensation claims are in the trillions of dollars, because there are billions of people in developing countries and a lot of
bad weather. In previous COPs, these trillions were often touted as motivating the creation of a “Loss and Damage Response Fund (LDRF),” which finally happened at COP28.
This year, the LDRF is instead very low-key. To begin with, they have no money, as the financial flows have failed to flow. They have something like $250 million, which is nothing.
They will be calling for proposals for projects so that they can start to figure out who gets funding for what kind of losses, but these will obviously be small.And of course, they will spend a lot of time loudly wishing they had a lot more money.
The sinking boat
The other UN climate funds and programs are in much the same sinking boat. America has pulled out, and no one else has money. The green press will have to work hard to find something interesting to write about. Human stories can be.
I, on the other hand, would like to chronicle the sadness of COP 30. Stay tuned to CFACT for more good news from this angle. COP30 is not going anywhere.
My comments:
Will a reduced economy stop this rabid climate story?
Even the climate goals are losing attention. Only 64 of the nearly 200 member states of the UN have announced new climate targets.According to the Paris Agreement, they are required to do this: Guterres' request.
Will we soon see the ParisAgreement retracted?
Even Bill Gates has changed focus, from Climate Change to human welfare and sustainability.