Sofia, Bulgaria
The CFACT team is headed toward the 31st United Nations Conference of the Parties climate summit, with a stopover in city of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. This former Soviet bloc nation is sandwiched between Turkey, which will host COP 31, and the Balkan states of the former Yugoslavia.
About 19 members of Congress are expected to attend the climate summit with a message of “help is on the way” after the Democratic Party’s resounding congressional election victories last week, including Sean Caston of Illinois. Expect the new Congress to appropriate billions more U.S. tax dollars for the “Green New Deal” of solar and wind projects to blanket the nation, as well as funding billions more for the UN’s climate schemes.
President Trump has long accurately described this climate agenda, the “Green New Scam,” which bodes for a political standoff in 2027 over climate policy. But the president will want agenda items of his own, including for the military and immigration enforcement, so one of two outcomes are likely: a budgetary stand-off of continuing resolutions; or give-and-take where each side gets something.
When the Iran War comes to an end, which the new Congress will insist upon by defunding it, global oil prices will drop precipitously, which already began in October. That will make subsidizing so-called “green” energy with taxpayer money more costly to make it more economically practical.
It is mathematical legerdemain to proffer that wind and solar energy are cheaper to produce and sell electricity when both industries are massively subsidized by the federal and state governments. The colossally mislabeled Inflation Reduction Act during the Biden administration included nearly $400 billion in multi-year subsidies for this energy, including billions of dollars for grants and tax credits.
That means Americans are paying twice for “green” energy. Absent the taxpayer-funded support and energy mandates imposed by states upon utility companies to use these sources, the renewable industry would collapse because the cost to actual consumers to sustain this sector would become massively unaffordable.
The CFACT team will be on the ground at COP31 in Turkey, following closely and pushing back on the UN’s fantastical climate alarmism and greater demands for U.S. taxpayers in to underwrite the global climate industry. With the new majority coming to power in the Congress in 2027, the climate lobby and industry’s appetite for money will grow more voracious than ever. CFACT will continue to counterpunch, expose the sham of it all, and bring common sense, economic reality and genuine science to the debate.
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Lastly, some thoughts about city of Sofia and this nation. Bulgaria is one of the oldest nation states on the European continent. Its Communist government overthrew the Czar after World War II in 1946 and relinquished power in November 1989 when the Eastern bloc countries collapsed with the fall of the Berlin Wall. During the 2000s, Bulgaria went all in with the West by joining the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The national Assembly moved from its location a few blocks down the street to the old but grandiose Communist Party headquarters building. Soviet style, drab architecture still dominates the city, with some exceptions in the old historic section, including Sofia University, the historic church buildings, and some newer hotels.
Walking through the streets in the high 30-degree nights, the place was lively, with restaurants full and cigarette smokers seemingly everywhere outdoors. As with most European countries, English is widely spoken and eastern Europeans very friendly and welcoming to Americans. Not one with whom we spoke had traveled to the U.S., but knew our music and much more.