The wonderful world of EU climate change aid

          This is the glossy side of the EU´s climate change assistance

As we all remember, the European Union likes to describe itself as the "global leader" in  combatting (imaginary) human induced climate change. Wast sums of European taxpayers´ money are annually distributed to a multitude of projects worldwide in the name of  fighting "climate change". In order to show how this money actually is spent, we decided to take a look at just a few of the projects.

The EuropeAid Development and Cooperation Directorate–General (with a staff of over 1250 people) has on its webpage an excellent interactive world map, which allows you to locate a number of different climate change related aid programmes and projects.

Below is a small selection of the projects that EuropeAid, the Directorate General for Development has wanted to highlight in its map, presumably because they are thought to be representative and important:

• "Poverty Alleviation Through Capacities Building of Rural Populations" (China)

 "This multifaceted poverty alleviation project aims to address rural poverty by building capacity and providing material and technologies to resolve local problems. At its core is the aim to foster awareness of sustainable practices".

Here are some of the results of the €300.000 project:

- "Awareness raising of environmental issues for 8328 people" (excellent counting - showing the magnitude of the project in relation to the population of about 1,4 billion people!)
- "27 schools with energy-efficient improvements to school buildings" (Did they put EU-made solar panels on the roofs of the schools?)

Comment: This program is certainly not expensive, but still one has to ask, why on earth should the European Union waste  €300.000 on a bogus climate change "poverty alleviation" project in China - a country that in reality is more or less bailing out some almost bankrupt eurozone countries! The sheer stupidness of the undertaking must have caused at least a couple of small smiles in the otherwise so stern faces of the Chinese communist leaders.

• "CO2 Managers for the Industry in the People´s Republic of China"

 "The project aims at preparing the ground for the multiplication of the CO2 management approach in China. To this end it will provide capacity building through the development of expert skills in the field of CO2 management in the private sector".

Here are the main results:

"25 Chinese experts achieved the qualification as a ´CO2 Manager & Trainer´. The managers were organized in a CO2 alumni network".

Comment: European tax payers could have been spared from having to pay the costs, €213.000 (+ a contribution from the Austrian Development Agency ). It is almost certain that nobody will ever check, what this "alumni network" actually will do, if anything, in the future.However, there is another possibility:  
Could the be a covert EU operation with the aim to create a secret network of dissidents in China? In that case the money is well spent, indeed!

• "Carbon footprint & Labelling (Thailand) 

"A better understanding of the Carbon Fooprint Method and management as well as carbon footprint labelling systems for Thai academics, food industries and their associated stakeholders"

Comment: €198.559 of tax payers´ money wasted. The only footprint from this project should be the one in the rear of  the EU bureaucrat who authorized the money to this senseless project.

• "Across the River: A Trans-boundary Peace Park for Sierra Leone and Liberia"
  

"Establishment of an environment for cross-border conservation at local, national and regional level and a trans-boundary Peace Park."

Comment: One wonders whether the €2,45 million could have been invested in something more relevant than a Peace Park? No wonder, that Czech President Klaus and others often compare the EU with the former Soviet Union.

• "Understanding the Findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th Assessment Report"

 "2,5 day climate change policy dialogue for parliamentarians, government officials, national scientific community, members of civil society and the media" 

"100 people attended the dialogues on the first day and more than 50 on the subsequent days"

 
Comment:No wonder that half of the participants disappeared after lunch on the first day, because not even the lecturing EU propagandists could have claimed to "understand" the "Findings" of the IPCC 4h Assessment Report! The real aim of this project seems to have been to convert Ghana´s elite to believe in the inofficial EU global warming religion. The indoctrination project was a total waste of European tax payers´ money (€1 million). The EU auditors should have a look at who was responsible for this!

These are just a couple of random examples showing what the 3000 or so EU aid diplomats are busy doing worldwide. The interactive map also gives us totals for EU climate change aid for some larger areas. Here are a couple of examples to show you that the alarmist bureaucrats have rather nice sums of  (our) money to throw around:

EU climate change aid (2002 - 2009):

• Oceania & South Pacific: €82 520 000 (Recently Commissioner Piebalgs announced quite a few new millions)
• Asia: €309 139 000
• South America: €105 330 000
• West Africa: €90 400 000

Expect the annual aid sums to increase during the next few years!

PS
Hopefully voters in the member countries will soon wake up and demand some action against this kind of massive waste of money. Regrettably most Brussels correspondents are not interested in serious investigative journalism into the workings and doings of the almost 40.000 EU bureaucrats or the actions of their supposed masters, the political leaders of the member countries. The corrrespondents seem to be satisfied with reporting minor squabbles and enjoying the niceties on offer in the Belgian capital.