Valentine’s Day may be a few days behind us, but love is still in the air. That includes today’s popular love story between mega pop star Taylor Swift and Kansas City superstar Travis Kelce. Speaking of love, here’s another international lovefest that you might have missed. Last month, the World Economic Forum had its 54th Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, and the love for big-government solutions to climate change was flying out of there faster than Cupid’s arrows.
At this recent global meeting of the minds, various speakers worked to outdo each other by issuing bold, lofty statements. Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank stated: “We have an existential climate crisis. A sense of urgency is our only savior.” Further, Banga said 45 percent of World Bank financing will go towards climate efforts, promising to connect 100 million people in Africa to renewable power as soon as 2030. At the same event, former U.S. Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said: “It can’t be business as usual. We have the technology, but we’re not deploying it fast enough.”
Perhaps these two gentlemen should examine what’s going on across large swaths of Europe right now. Farmers in Europe aren’t “feeling the love” from the climate agenda that elites in Davos are promoting. Instead, they’ve taken to the streets with their tractors and manure spreaders to protest environmental regulations and other items they feel are choking them with red tape and making them less competitive abroad.
A December 2023 report from the RealClear Foundation detailed the harm inflicted on British citizens by net-zero targets implemented in 2019. The report states that Britons are paying about 75 percent more for electricity than in the U.S., and British businesses are paying more than double the rates paid by American companies. It goes on to detail how Britain’s cap and trade costs added $128 per megawatt hour (MWh) for electricity generated by coal and $51 per MWh for electricity from natural gas. Of note, these costs are on top of an average $150 per MWh for electricity from coal and $160 per MWh for natural gas. During the same time period, Americans paid $27 per MWh for electricity from coal and $61 MWh for electricity from natural gas. Strikingly, the report says that Great Britain managed to keep its lights on only because higher energy prices have driven down demand.
Despite what’s happening to our friends across the pond, the Biden administration is pursuing the same climate agenda here at home. Will we be left feeling the same economic harm as our British counterparts? One can only hope our leaders are paying attention to European strife and will come to their senses.
At Missouri Farm Bureau (MOFB), we are very concerned about the rush to net-zero and how it will impact our farmers and ranchers, who will ultimately be forced to host a vast amount of green energy infrastructure. We’re drawing attention to “multi-value projects” being built to meet lofty green energy policy mandates, compared to projects that will improve grid reliability, ratepayer affordability and economic vitality.
MOFB is currently supporting legislation that requires major high-voltage electrical transmission lines to receive legislative approval, in addition to obtaining a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity from the Public Service Commission (PSC). We’re also working to reform the PSC to require geographic representation and for farmers, who are arguably impacted more than any other stakeholders, to be appointed to the Commission. In addition, we’re working to close a statutory loophole that allows for the misuse of eminent domain authority for solar and wind energy projects. These are good, common-sense proposals that protect private property rights in the midst of the government-funded, green energy onslaught, and the legislature should pass them without delay.
While we may not be able to squelch all the hot air and big-government climate love coming from Europe, we can take action here before it’s too late. We need to end virtue signaling and implement a strong national energy policy that utilizes both traditional and renewable energy sources. Let’s let Europe be a lesson to us all and stop harming our citizens and the American way of life.