A Sincerity Test for the United Nations

I get annoyed by the virtue-signalling leftism from the United Nations. And it irks me when the U.N. peddles dishonest analysis. And I’m also nauseated by the bureaucracy’s pervasive corruption.

But, unlike the International Monetary Fund and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the U.N. has very little ability to turn bad ideas into bad policy.

Which is why I rarely write about the United Nations. But rarely is not the same as never.

I’m going to pontificate about the U.N. today because Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute has put forth a very good proposal. He wants the bureaucracy to act like it believes global warming is real.

More than 67,000 delegates are in Baku, Azerbaijan, to attend the United Nations’ annual climate summit. …The United Nations itself sent hundreds of “observers” on behalf of both U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and specialized agencies. …There is normal hypocrisy, and then there is John “[private jets are] the only choice for somebody like me,” Kerry hypocrisy — but all pale in comparison to U.N. hypocrisy. The private and jumbo jets ferrying delegates to Baku, the idling sedans and limousines, the steak dinners and caviar mock any pretense that their climate concern is real. In reality, the annual environmental conference is glorified tourism under the guise of activism. Nothing occurs in Baku that the U.N. could not conduct online and in video breakout sessions at a tiny fraction of the cost and carbon footprint. The same is true for almost every other U.N. conference. U.N. employees often fly first or business class. If the U.N. went online, it could slash not only its travel expenses but administrative ones as well. …Moving environmental conferences online would end U.N. climate hypocrisy and could serve as a test to curtail U.N. jet-setting and shrink the administrative bureaucracy that supports that lifestyle.

Amen. This change would be good for taxpayers and good for the environment.

When I issued my Eighteenth Theorem of Government, I was mostly thinking about the preening nitwits in the British royal family and the hypocrites in who go to Davos.

But it obviously applies perfectly to the type of people who attend U.N. climate conferences.

P.S. I’ve participated in two conferences at the United Nations. Sadly, both were in New York City so I didn’t get to travel to some exotic location.