Several business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland issued a profanity-laced message towards a perceived resistance to Net-Zero initiatives in Europe.
“In an interview with CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Allianz
CEO Oliver Bäte said he disagreed with the suggestion that it may just be a matter of time before net zero is dismissed in Europe, saying short-term thinking on this issue is ‘bulls—,’” CNBC’s Sam Meredith writes.
Asked about political leaders backtracking on their much-vaunted European Green New Deal and Norway’s oil fund reportedly defending a push from companies to water down their climate goals, Bäte said anyone who has children “will have to worry” about the planet’s future.
“‘It’s an aberration that short-term people are saying that,’ Bäte told CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box Europe’ on Tuesday. ‘I think it’s about doing it intelligently. And by the way, the role model here is China, they are going to be the leader both in terms of renewable and cost of energy.’”
Andrew Forrest, founder and executive chairman of Australian mining company Fortescue, said that the “net-zero” term was “a little bit of a problem” at Davos.
“He has previously called for the world to walk away from the “proven fantasy” of net zero, saying it is time to embrace “real zero” by 2040 instead.
Net zero refers to the goal of achieving a state of balance between the carbon emitted into the atmosphere and the carbon removed from it,” More than 140 countries, including major polluters such as the U.S., India, and the European Union, have adopted plans to reach net zero.
“While we use excuses like carbon credits, offsets, all that rubbish, I think that the president of the United States has a proper angle to prosecute an argument against those who just stood up for net zero [but] I’d have to say this: We don’t need net any more,” Forrest told CNBC’s Karen Tso in Davos.”
Forrest also said that China was both backing hydrocarbon energy and green energy, which he alleges stands in contrast to President Donald Trump’s efforts to revitalize America’s traditional energy production.
“China, Forrest said, had wisely backed ‘every horse in the race’ by investing in both hydrocarbon and renewable energy technologies, a policy decision that clearly diverges from the Trump administration’s approach,” Meredith writes.
“‘Now, the United States … have gone hard [for] fossil fuels and kind of made anyone going for renewables feel like they’re woke, they’re not looking after shareholders. Honestly, I’m here to tell all of Davos, that is not correct,’ Forrest said.”
Read the full story in CNBC.
