GOP urged to denounce ‘alarmist’ UN climate change report

UN chief Antonio Guterres urged wealthy nations to move up their net-zero carbon emissions goals to 2040.

EXCLUSIVE: A recent memo sent to every Republican member of Congress is urging lawmakers to dismiss the United Nations’ “alarmist report” on climate change.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently called on wealthy nations to move up its net-zero emissions goal from 2050 to 2040. But a memo sent by the Competitive Enterprise Institute offered Republicans talking points for refuting both the UN’s findings and the Biden administration’s push to accelerate the transition to renewable energy.

“In the wake of the latest alarmist report from the United Nations about emissions and climate change, I wanted to draw your attention to three new developments and realities that you should be aware of as debate about climate continues,” the memo stated.

The memo started by picking apart various claims from those who warn that global warming will lead to catastrophic changes to human and animal life. For example, it noted a short-term projection by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that suggests global temperatures peaked nearly a decade ago in 2015.

“Despite this reality, we are told every day that every emission warms the planet. That is clearly not the case. We should not mindlessly and recklessly proceed with dangerous and expensive emissions cuts until this paradox is resolved,” the memo stated.

It then pointed out that a recent report from the Energy Information Administration that said the Biden administration will already fall well short of its goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

“Both the electricity utility industry and the Biden administration have now admitted that cutting net emissions to zero by 2050 (‘net zero by 2050’) are not happening,” the memo outlined.

Finally, the memo showed various doomsday predictions related to climate change going back to 1967 that never came true.

“These three points fairly question the wisdom of any rush to judgment on climate and/or the dismantling of our energy grid,” the memo to lawmaker claimed.

House Republicans, armed with a new, narrow majority, are already chipping away at Biden’s clean energy agenda. President Biden’s $1.2 trillion Inflation Reduction Act, passed last year, was hailed by supporters as the largest climate investment in history.

Guterres has the same view, and issued a dire warning in March about his body’s findings regarding climate change. “Our world needs climate action on all fronts — everything, everywhere, all at once,” he said.

But last month, House lawmakers passed a comprehensive energy bill that they say will lower costs for families and reverse burdensome regulations on the fossil fuel industry.