By Gregory Wrightstone

On November 2, Alberta’s ruling United Conservative Party (UCP) approved a resolution stating, in part:

“CO₂ is a nutrient foundational for all life on Earth…The earth needs more CO₂ to support life and to increase plant yields, both of which contribute to the Health and Prosperity [sic] of all Albertans.”

A UCP member speaking in favor of the resolution stated:

“According to the CO2 Coalition, higher CO₂ levels have led to healthier crops and improved food security worldwide.”

The resolution recommended that the Government of Alberta should:

1. Abandon Net Zero targets
2. Remove the designation of CO₂ as a pollutant
3. Recognize that CO₂ is a foundational nutrient for all life on Earth

As you can imagine, this did not sit well with the climate alarmist community. DeSmog Blog called us “the notorious CO₂ Coalition.” Another stated:

“The CO₂ Coalition, an organization that promotes the view of carbon dioxide as beneficial, appears to have influenced Resolution 12. During the UCP’s annual general meeting, a member advocating for the resolution cited the CO₂ Coalition, stating that ‘higher CO₂ levels have led to healthier crops and improved food security worldwide.’ This reference suggests that the CO₂ Coalition’s materials and messaging contributed to shaping the arguments and rationale behind the UCP’s decision to reclassify CO₂ and abandon net-zero emission targets.”

But wait… there’s more:

“The US-based Coalition must be squirming in their dampened seats in excitement at having the home of the oil sands not just be a hot bed of interest in their antediluvian, a-scientific perspective, but actually changing the official policy of the ruling party. I’m sure that gasoline soaked paper bags were being passed around at what passes for the Coalition’s headquarters, huffing cancer-causing hydrocarbons clearly being their drug of choice.”

This commentary was first published in the CO2 Coalition Newsletter (email subscription available on our homepage).

Gregory Wrightstone is a geologist; executive director of the CO2 Coalition, Arlington, VA; author of Inconvenient Facts: The Science That Al Gore Doesn’t Want You to Know and the soon-to-be-published book, A Very Convenient Warming – How Modest Warming and More CO2 are Benefiting Humanity.