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UN Backs Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign
mdsolar sends this report from The Guardian:
The UN organization in charge of global climate change negotiations is backing the fast-growing campaign persuading investors to sell off their fossil fuel assets. It said it was lending its "moral authority" to the divestment campaign because it shared the ambition to get a strong deal to tackle global warming at a crunch UN summit in Paris in December.
The move is likely to be controversial as the economies of many nations at the negotiating table heavily rely on coal, oil and gas. In 2013, coal-reliant Poland hosted the UNFCCC summit and was castigated for arranging a global coal industry summit alongside. Now, the World Coal Association has criticized the UNFCCC's decision to back divestment, saying it threatened investment in cleaner coal technologies.
The move is likely to be controversial as the economies of many nations at the negotiating table heavily rely on coal, oil and gas. In 2013, coal-reliant Poland hosted the UNFCCC summit and was castigated for arranging a global coal industry summit alongside. Now, the World Coal Association has criticized the UNFCCC's decision to back divestment, saying it threatened investment in cleaner coal technologies.
My assessment comes from what I pay at the pump, or from my local utility company
If it does not include their costs, then they will go out of business, there are some caveats below:
In the case of fossil fuels, they have been giving a free pass on recognizing the costs of their pollution by the politicians (usually on the right) that they provide donations to. If fossil fuels (coal in particular) had to limit their release of pollutants (including CO2) to a similar level that nuclear power has to demonstrate, they would no longer be the least expensive source of power and would quickly lose their position as the main source of power for the US
If solar attains a rapid acceptance and development while it is heavily subsidized, then it will eventually have to demonstrate its merits to business on a cost basis. This is something that nuclear power has demonstrated, even when faced with extra costs of lawsuits that are placed on them by the environmental and nimby movements
Do I believe that solar can become cost competitive, sure... eventually. My money is on nuclear for the next hundred years, assume we do not decide to choke ourselves out by sticking to fossil fuels
Wherever You Go, There You Are