This is Scott Amyx with today’s Climate Change Flash Briefing.
Why was the recent Climate Change Summit held in Katowice (Kata-vi-ssa), Poland? Because the region is heavily dependent on coal. The region’s 5 million people in over 70 cities rely on the lifeblood of its coal industry. COP24’s president Michał Kurtyka, a state secretary in Poland’s Ministry of Energy, remarked that bringing the climate summit to Katowice was a strategic decision to exhibit a city and region in need of transition away from coal. In Poland coal still accounts for almost 80 percent of electricity generation.
The current White House administration is in alliance with old industries such as coal, oil and gas, and steel and promoting these special interest groups as a way to bring back mining and manufacturing jobs.
Stay tuned next time to find out how the U.S. became the world’s largest global producer of oil.
