If You Think the Colossal Net Zero Spending Will End in 2050 Then These Three Countries Will Soon Set You Straight

Reaching Net Zero has not diminished countries' demands for big piles of other people's cash

The latest fantasy figure for international climate aid is $300 billion a year, to be paid by a diminishing band of Net Zero fanatical countries (looking at you Europe). But at least, come 2050, when the world is awash with green riches with energy too cheap to meter, it will all be worthwhile, and the scam – pardon – worthwhile investment can stop. If only. Look no further than the three countries that on many counts have already hit Net Zero, namely Suriname, Panama and Bhutan, for guidance on future investment demands. All three countries are heavily forested and all demand billions of dollars to keep these ‘carbon’ sinks in place. Sustainability is the name of the game, or to put it another way: ‘Nice little forest we got here. Shame if anything happened to it.’

Suriname is a small South American country with a population of just 640,000 and an annual GDP of $4.5 billion. In its latest UN Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) it asks for $4.5 billion to be paid over the next decade to reaffirm its commitment to remaining carbon negative through “forest preservation”. Money is also sought from many other international sources, and the country is a leading light in the cash for ‘climate justice’ shake down. Panama is also keen on maintaining its carbon neutrality status, but, needless to say, such virtue does not come cheap. In its latest NDC, the country seems wary of producing cash figures but there is one mention of the need for $1.23 billion for 21 adaptation initiatives. A recently announced plan for a dedicated nature conservancy plan calls for new, additional, predictable, assessable and non-debt increasing international aid. In other words, a regular one-way lorry load of cash.

As the Daily Sceptic reported recently, the big winner in this giant Net Zero cash protection scheme is Bhutan. This small landlocked country in the eastern Himalayas has huge hydroelectric power, while 93% of the land is carpeted with carbon dioxide absorbing forest. As the poster country for Net Zero, its demands for waterfalls of cash are suitably impressive. With a population of only 800,000 and a GDP of around $3 billion, it notes in its latest NDC that it requires “continued and predictable” financial support amounting to $13.7 billion over the next decade.

In the land of the Net Zero cult, cash might not be God, but it is a deeply religious experience. Sadly the collection plate has come back a bit light of late. In America, President Trump has ruthlessly cut federal funds for both domestic and international Net Zero boondoggles. The United Nations, which is the ringmaster for pumping up climate panic, is talking about financial collapse after the Americans withdrew the feeding bottle. Indeed, the Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently spoke of the organisation being on the “brink of bankruptcy”. But then this particularly clownish act often gives a passable impression of complete derangement having recently claimed that the era of “global boiling” had arrived.