Friday, November 7, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Driving an electric car is fake environmentalism

The exaggerated climate crisis

Electric cars are causing very real environmental problems, writes former science advisor at the UK Gov. Dept. of Energy and Climate Change and former UN Environment Officer Mark Keenan in a guest analysis.

Updated March 1, 2024, Published February 29, 2024
EV batteries require a staggering amount of natural resources.

In Sweden there exists an electrified road for Electric Vehicles (EVs) to charge while driving, see endnote i. The 2 km stretch of road is the world's first of its kind, and an expansion of a further 3,000 km of electric road by 2045 is planned. It all sounds rather cool and futuristic, and I am reminded of a song lyric from the 1980s, the singer Eddie Grant sang “we’re gonna rock onto Electric Avenue”.

A road with an electrified lane where vehicles can charge while driving. Photo: Indiatimes.

However, let us consider whether these expensive EVs are actually environmentally friendly or are yet another mega-corporate marketing scam?

This article demonstrates that the latter is the case. The reality is that the misled environmentalists buying these cars are suckers for mega-corporate advertising, ignorantly proud of their so-called low-carbon eco-cars. Apparently, unaware that the manufacture of millions of electric car batteries, requires huge mining operations to acquire and refine large quantities of rare earth metals, such as lithium, rhodium and cobalt; that these metals have to be mined out of the ground using machinery which is powered by carbon-emitting vehicles powered by diesel or petrol; and importantly, that the mining and refining processes can cause significant and extensive pollution to land, air and water systems, for example in rural China and Mongolia, see endnote ii. Unlike the fake manmade climate change agenda, these are real environmental problems.

Below is a picture of a lithium leach field. This is what your EV batteries are made of. It is so neuro-toxic that a bird landing on this stuff dies in minutes. Take a guess what it does to your nervous system? Pat yourself on the back for saving the environment.

A lithium leach field. Photo: Tom Hegen.

Furthermore, the push to end gasoline or diesel transport by 2035 in favor of e-vehicles is based on a lie as the lithium-ion battery-powered vehicles have a total “carbon footprint” when the effects of mining lithium and producing all parts are included, that is worse than diesel autos.

Furthermore, electric cars are still driven by electricity produced from fossil fuels and will most likely continue to be. Despite decades of government subsidies wind power provides less than 5% of the world’s energy, and solar just 1%. The use of electricity to charge vehicles and devices is also an extremely in-efficient use of energy, according to a study by the European Association for Battery Electric Vehicles commissioned by the European Commission (EC):

"The ‘Well-to-Tank’ energy efficiency (from the primary energy source to the electrical plug), taking into account the energy consumed by the production and distribution of the electricity, is estimated at around 37%".

Deceptive marketing

Let us take a look at the deceptive marketing for electric vehicles. The first misleading marketing trick that millions of environmentalists fell for was the ‘hybrid’. Hybrid cars are actually gasoline powered cars with a little battery assistance and the little battery has to be charged from the gasoline engine. If the EPA-certified mileage is 55 mpg, then it is no different from a non-hybrid that achieves 55 mpg. A world 100% full of ‘hybrid’ drivers is still 100% addicted to oil.

Now consider a cleverly designed marketing pitch for electric cars by Elon Musk, Co-Founder & CEO of Tesla Motors. In an article published on the Tesla Motors website, see endnote iii, he states:

"The overarching purpose of Tesla Motors… is to help expedite the move from a mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy towards a solar electric economy… I’d like to address two repeated arguments against electric vehicles - battery disposal and power plant emissions… the Tesla Motors Lithium-Ion cells are not classified as hazardous and are landfill safe… the battery pack can be sold to recycling companies (unsubsidized) at the end of its greater than 100,000-mile design life…

A common rebuttal to electric vehicles as a solution to carbon emissions is that they simply transfer the CO2 emissions to the power plant. The obvious counter is that one can develop grid electric power from a variety of means, many of which, like hydro, wind, geothermal, nuclear, solar, etc. involve no CO2 emissions. However, let’s assume for the moment that the electricity is generated from a hydrocarbon source like natural gas... the hands down winner is pure electric:

 

Car Energy source CO2 content Efficiency CO2 emissions
Honda CNG Natural gas 14.4 g/MJ 0.32 km/MJ 45.0 g/km
Honda FCX Natural gas-fuel cell 14.4 g/MJ 0.35 km/MJ 41.1 g/km
Toyota Prius Oil 19.9 g/MJ 0.56 km/MJ 35.8 g/km
Tesla Roadster Natural gas electric 14.4 g/MJ 1.14 km/MJ 12.6 g/km

 

we will be offering a modestly sized and priced solar… This system can be… set up as a carport and will generate about 50 miles per day of electricity. If you travel less than 350 miles per week, you will therefore be “energy positive” with respect to your personal transportation… you will actually be putting more energy back into the system than you consume in transportation!”

However, Elon Musk’s narrative is debunked here as he does not mention the fact that:

  • The move from mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy towards a solar electric economy in itself requires a vast expenditure of fossil-fuel energy to re-purpose the entire worldwide industrial system, as well as build vast new energy grids for wind and solar energy, etc, simply to reduce CO2 emissions. A new industrial framework which in itself will still be very polluting to land, air, and water in virtually the same ways as the old framework as it creates more and more ‘product’ to be marketed and sold, such as electric cars, which we are now incorrectly told is okay because its ‘green product’;
  • The Energy Returned on Energy Invested (EROEI) for solar and wind energy is too low to be viable, and therefore to repurpose and rebuild the world energy and industrial system to de-carbonise the economy is a waste of vast amounts of fossils fuels (no wonder the sector seeks subsidies);
  • The manufacture of potentially hundreds of millions of new electric cars and electric car batteries involves a continuation of widespread mining and processing of rare earth metals, such as lithium, rhodium and cobalt, which are a limited resource. The mining and processing of rare earth metals has been shown to be polluting to land, air, and water systems, such as rivers.
  • If you charge the car with solar energy, you may be putting slightly more energy back into the system than you consume in ‘driving the car’. However, driving the electric car is only one small part of the entire energy consuming process from mining to manufacture to distribution, not to mention the embedded energy in the manufactured materials of a new worldwide supply-chain industrial infrastructure, including cars, factories, energy grids, windmills, photovoltaics, etc.
  • And, vitally, that CO2 emissions are not the cause of climate change. This is evidenced in my books: Transcending the Climate Change Deception Toward Real Sustainability and CO2 Climate Hoax – How Bankers Hijacked the Real Environment Movement

Climate change - a natural phenomenon

I have experience in the climate and energy sector as a Science Advisor at the U.K. Government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change; and as an Environmental Affairs Officer at the United Nations (UN) in Geneva, Switzerland. At the UN I was responsible for servicing the Pollution Release and Transfer Register Protocol, a Multinational Environmental Agreement, involving the monitoring of thousands of different pollutants to land, air, and water worldwide. Real pollution exists, but the problem is not CO2. CO2 is not actually a pollutant, it is an odorless gas, it is not soot and it is not poisonous. Actually, CO2 has beneficial properties for humankind because it is a fertilizer - without sufficient CO2 plants and crops will not grow. The biology of the earth is driven by CO2. If CO2 is less than 150 ppm, almost all life on Earth will disappear.

The little ice age ended as recently as around 1800, so it is no surprise that we are now experiencing a little warming. However, this warming period will end, and we will move again to a colder phase. That is how the Earth’s climate system has behaved for billions of years.

The Climate Intelligence (CLINTEL) is an independent foundation that operates in the fields of climate change and climate policy. CLINTEL was founded in 2019 by Dutch emeritus professor of geophysics Guus Berkhout. After its launch in 2019, it published the World Climate Declaration (WCD), which has an impressive list of over 1850 signatories worldwide, including Nobel Prize laureates and leading scientists and climate experts.

I am also a signatory of the World Climate Declaration, a declaration that refutes the United Nations narrative on climate change. The reality is the climate changes naturally. Climate change is not manmade due to CO2 emissions, or cow-made due to methane emissions as the UN claim.

Resource-intensive batteries

As an example of why electric cars are fake environmentalism let us consider a Tesla model Y battery in the picture below.

Tesla Model Y battery.

It takes up all of the space under the passenger compartment of the car. To manufacture it seemingly requires about 55 kilograms weight of lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese, and during manufacturing about 200 kilograms  of aluminum, steel and/or plastic and 50 kilograms  of graphite. To obtain these is far from easy - it has been estimated that you need to mine around 35 tons of rock, cobalt minerals, nickel ore, and copper ore; and move over 200 tons of soil just to make one battery!

A Caterpillar 994A vehicle is commonly used for the earthmoving to obtain the essential minerals. It has been estimated to consume between 250 and 775 gallons of diesel in 12 hours, see endnote iv. Finally, you get a “zero emissions” car that is not zero-emissions at all in terms of manufacture; and due to the fact that EVs are still driven by electricity produced from fossil fuels and will most likely continue to be.

The cost of Tesla batteries for the Tesla car models ranges from $5,000 to $20,000. It appears that it takes seven years for an electric car to reach net-zero CO2. The average life expectancy of the batteries is 10 years. Only in the last three years would you begin to reduce your carbon footprint. Then the batteries have to be replaced and you lose all the gains you made in those three years.

Term “sustainable” hijacked decades ago

The reality should be distinguished from the lies we are all being told by the UN, the World Economic Forum and mega-corporate advertising. The word “sustainable” was hijacked decades ago, and it is now deceptively used to advance the agendas of mega-corporate financial interests who want to sell countless millions of electric cars and who couldn’t care less about the environment. Are they concerned about the polluting effects of mining and processing rare earth metals to produce tens of millions of large electric car batteries?

As detailed in my book CO2 Climate Hoax – How Bankers Hijacked the Real Environment Movement the aim of the UN and the WEF is to catapult humanity into the ‘fake-sustainable’ totalitarian arms of UN Agenda 2030 and other clever marketing plans entirely designed by the so-called corporate elites of the WEF Davos group.

 

 

Mark-Gerard Keenan

 


1 Source: https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/05/09/sweden-is-building-the-worlds-first-permanent-electrified-road-for-evs-to-charge-while-dri

2 Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/aug/07/china-rare-earth-village-pollution

3 The relevant article written by Elon Musk is available at: https://www.tesla.com/blog/secret-tesla-motors-master-plan-just-between-you-and-me

4 Source: https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/threads/cat-994-fuel-consumption.94089/

Mark Gerard Keenan, is a former scientist at the UK Government Dept. of Energy and Climate Change, and at the United Nations Environment Division. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). He is author of the following books available on Amazon:

Transcending the Climate Change Deception Toward Real Sustainability
CO2 Climate Hoax – How Bankers Hijacked the Real Environment Movement
Godless Fake Science
No Worries No Virus
Demonic Economics and the Tricks of the Bankers

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Hunger strike planned at EU-backed “green steel” site in Sweden

The exaggerated climate crisis

Published yesterday 7:36 am – By Editorial staff

Forty Turkish guest workers who worked on Stegra's "green" steel plant construction in Boden, northern Sweden, have been waiting up to nine months for their wages. Now around 20 of them are planning to return to Norrbotten county to go on hunger strike.

The workers were employed by the Turkish company Ankitech, which was contracted by the company Gemkom, which in turn has an agreement with Stegra. They came to Boden to work on what Stegra described as a "green industrial revolution", but problems soon began to emerge.

First, the promised hourly wage was reduced from 13 to 9 dollars. Then the wages stopped coming altogether.

Some colleagues were forced to steal food just to have something to eat, says worker Ali Çur to the Schibsted newspaper Aftonbladet.

When the problems came to light, Ankitech terminated its assignment in Boden and no longer has any operations in Sweden.

As soon as we received signals that something was wrong, we conducted an in-depth review of the wages and working conditions. Then the company got cold feet and left Sweden, says Joakim Lindholm, regional chairman of the construction workers' union Byggnads.

Goal to reduce carbon dioxide

Stegra was founded in 2020 by billionaire Harald Mix through the investment company Vargas and was originally called H2 Green Steel. Mix was also involved in starting the now-collapsed battery factory Northvolt. However, the billionaire left the steel company in October, along with his investment company, which was replaced by Just Climate, a subsidiary of controversial climate activist Al Gore's environmental investment firm.

The goal of the new steel plant in Boden was to produce steel using hydrogen gas. This is claimed to be "climate-friendly" by reducing carbon dioxide emissions by up to 95 percent.

Received hundreds of millions in state support

Stegra has received significant state support, with the Swedish Energy Agency previously granting a total of €110 million, of which €75 million has already been paid out. While an additional €23.5 million is planned to be paid out in November. Furthermore, they have also received €250 million from the EU's Innovation Fund, according to Industrinyheter.se.

However, the company's finances will be reviewed before the next decision on state support, but the already approved funds will be paid out.

That's what applies until something else is decided, says Klara Helstad at the Swedish Energy Agency to Dagens Industri.

Stegra's press officer Karin Hallstan states in an email that the company does not comment on individual subcontractors, but that they generally require "Swedish collective agreements" to be followed. Gemkom has promised that the workers will receive their money, but nothing has happened yet. Now around 20 of them are planning to travel back to Boden to conduct a hunger strike in the city center. Exactly when the demonstration will begin has not yet been determined.

We don't want to cause problems for anyone. We just want justice, says Ali Çur.

“Eco-friendly” cattle feed may have negative climate impact

The exaggerated climate crisis

Published November 3, 2025 – By Editorial staff
Algae have been presented as "the solution" to methane emissions from cows, but the entire production chain paints a completely different picture.

Algae in cattle feed has been presented as a breakthrough in the fight against methane emissions from livestock. But new Swedish research shows that the real climate benefit may be minimal – or even negative. Energy-intensive production and long-distance transport risk canceling out any environmental gains achieved in the barn.

As climate alarmism has risen, cows have increasingly been accused of being real climate villains due to the methane emissions that occur when they burp and pass gas – which is why various schemes have emerged to solve this so-called problem. In 2022, for example, Prince Charles praised the British startup company Zelp for inventing a mask for cows to wear that would convert methane gas into water vapor. The cow mask is still under development but may likely become part of British cows' daily life.

However, the most talked-about solution has been the methane-reducing supplements implemented in cattle feed. The best known is Bovaer, which the Swedish-Danish dairy cooperative Arla has particularly been criticized for using, with both Danes and Swedes calling for a boycott of the company. Due to the strong criticism, the company is planning further studies to see how it affects cows' health, as well as the meat and milk.

Algae has been described as climate-smart

Another supplement being tested for cows is algae, which according to some studies has been shown to reduce methane emissions by between 30 and 90 percent. Now, however, research from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm has shown that these figures may be highly misleading.

Adding algae to cattle feed has been overestimated as a quick solution to livestock emissions, says Jean-Baptiste Thomas, researcher at the Division of Water and Environmental Engineering at KTH, in a press release.

To measure climate impact, one must take into account how these algae are produced, processed, and how far they are transported. The algae are often dried or refined, which involves energy-intensive methods such as freeze-drying. Furthermore, there is of course an environmental impact when fossil fuels are used, Thomas argues.

Sometimes there is no climate benefit at all

The most common algae used is Asparagopsis, which has the greatest effect on methane emissions, but it is a tropical species. This means long-distance transport all the way to Sweden. Growing it locally in Sweden is not a good alternative either, as it would require artificial, energy-intensive land-based cultivation systems since the species is invasive.

The real climate benefit is much smaller – and sometimes there is no benefit at all, or it can even be worse, says Thomas.

Thomas still believes that algae can be of some use as a supplement in cattle feed, as long as the environmental impact is low. For example, it could be interesting to use by-products instead, but he emphasizes that algae alone cannot "transform the climate footprint of livestock". This study is the first to look at the entire chain for algae feed, something that surprises the researchers.

It's quite surprising, considering how much attention the issue has received for almost a decade. Perhaps it shows how eager we are to find quick technical solutions to the climate crisis, says Thomas.

Climate alarmist Al Gore takes over struggling Stegra

The exaggerated climate crisis

Published October 23, 2025 – By Editorial staff
The Stegra factory outside Boden, Sweden is severely delayed and facing an acute financial crisis.

The crisis deepens for Swedish-based steel company Stegra as financier Harald Mix steps down from the chairman position and his investment company Vargas Holding withdraws.The new largest owner will instead be Just Climate, a subsidiary of notorious climate activist Al Gore's environmental investment firm.

This despite the company not yet having started production and facing the risk of running out of cash within a few months

Stegra's largest owner Vargas Holding is now leaving the "climate-smart steel" project following Harald Mix's departure as board chairman. Instead, Just Climate is stepping in as the new principal owner, according to reports to Schibsted-owned Svenska Dagbladet.

Just Climate is an investment company founded by prominent activist Al Gore, and belongs to the asset management firm Generation Investment Management. Since its launch in 2021, the company has attracted approximately €1.3 billion from investors for climate projects, with Stegra being one of them.

Harald Mix will be replaced by Shaun Kingsbury, who according to reports will become the new board chairman for Stegra. However, Mix will continue to work with and advocate for the project.

— My confidence in the company remains unshaken and I will continue to support the company financially as an investor and in my work as an active board member, Harald Mix stated to Dagens Industri.

Al Gore at a World Economic Forum meeting in 2020. Photo: World Economic Forum/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Large pension funds behind the fund

Among the investors in Just Climate are two Swedish state-owned AP funds, Second AP Fund and Fourth AP Fund, which together manage tens of billions of euros in pension assets.

The funds' investment in Just Climate is currently estimated at approximately €55 million – a relatively modest amount compared to their total capital, but still a source of concern as the project finds itself in deep crisis.

The fact that Swedish pension money has once again been invested in a high-risk project has sparked reactions, not least after the Northvolt fiasco – a corporate collapse that cost Swedish taxpayers billions.

Financial crisis and comparison with Northvolt

Stegra has not yet begun production of fossil-free steel at the factory to be built in Boden, northern Sweden. The production start is currently postponed until the turn of 2026/2027, while both costs and debts have skyrocketed.

According to reports from Financial Times, Stegra is burning through approximately €270 million per month and risks running out of money within two months unless credit facilities are granted. Major bank Citigroup has reportedly also withdrawn from the financing.

The crisis at Stegra has been compared to the bankruptcy of battery manufacturer Northvolt earlier this year, and a source with insight says: — This is starting to look more and more like Northvolt. It's hard to see anything other than investments being written off.

If the project collapses, Swedish pension savers risk major losses once again. Among others, AMF Pension (a major Swedish pension fund) has invested €165 million in the company, and Third AP Fund is involved as an investor through private equity firm Altor – founded by Mix and Stegra's second-largest owner.

Al Gore – politician, activist and businessman

Al Gore, born March 31, 1948 in Washington D.C., served as US Vice President under Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001. After the controversial 2000 presidential election, he devoted himself entirely to climate issues. The documentary An Inconvenient Truth (2006) made him a global climate alarmist figure, and in 2007 he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the UN's climate panel, the IPCC.

Parallel to his activism, Gore has built up significant economic interests. He is co-founder of Generation Investment Management, a London-based investment firm focused on "sustainability", and its subsidiary Just Climate, now the largest owner in Stegra, has raised billions of euros from institutional investors, including Swedish pension funds.

Critics question whether Gore's economic involvement undermines the credibility of his activism, while supporters argue that investments in sustainable companies are necessary for the so-called green transition.

Gore is also founder of The Climate Reality Project, which works with opinion formation and education on environmental and climate issues globally. At the same time, he has established close connections to international power networks, including the World Economic Forum and other influential global economic and political platforms. This strengthens his influence, but has also raised questions about how close cooperation with major economic and political interests actually affects his role as an activist and opinion leader.

Interest in climate issues declining among young Swedish women

The exaggerated climate crisis

Published October 14, 2025 – By Editorial staff
According to a recent report, an increasing number of young women are turning away from climate alarmist issues.

Engagement with climate issues among young women is declining sharply, according to a recent survey. Meanwhile, issues such as healthcare, education, and crime are being prioritized increasingly higher.

A recently conducted survey reveals that young Swedish women are becoming significantly less passionate about modern left-leaning values such as climate alarmism.

According to the report Youth Focus 2025, climate issues have lost ground among Sweden's young people. In 2019, 51 percent of young women considered climate the most important issue.

In this year's report, the corresponding figure has dropped to 15 percent. Among young men, engagement has fallen from 34 to 13 percent.

We don't talk much about climate, only in school, says 15-year-old Disa Magnusson in Södertälje, a city south of Stockholm, to publicly funded broadcaster SVT.

At the same time, the survey shows that young people today are more engaged in societal issues that affect their daily lives. Healthcare tops the list, followed by education and crime.

In this year's report, we see a generation that feels concern about certain societal issues and wants to act for society's benefit here and now, says Sofia Rasmussen, CEO of Rasmussen Analysis.

The same survey also demonstrates declining interest in feminism and gender equality among the country's youth.

New priorities

Several of the young women who expressed themselves in the survey report that they feel greater trust in more conservative parties. Parties that profile themselves around more traditional values, with emphasis on order and security.

This is a development that could significantly impact Sweden's future politics, especially when a generation that previously often identified with supposedly progressive left-wing values now shows a shift in interest and engagement.

Interviews with young women show that issues such as friendship, love, and high school are prioritized higher than climate.

People probably think they won't be alive then, says Disa Magnusson about why climate issues don't engage as much as before.

The survey demonstrates a clear shift toward issues perceived as more urgent and directly relevant in the daily lives of today's youth.

At the same time, interest in long-term societal problems remains, but engagement has changed both in form and expression.

About the Youth Focus Survey

Youth Focus 2025, produced for the tenth consecutive year by the King's Foundation for Young Leadership (Konungens stiftelse Ungt Ledarskap) and Rasmussen Analys, aims to highlight young people's values and attitudes and to strengthen their role in society and working life.

This year's report is based on responses from 1,280 people, of which 1,018 are young people between 15–29 years old. The survey was conducted during the period May 13–20, 2025. To enable comparisons with other age groups, the survey also collected 262 responses from people born before 1995.

This makes it possible to distinguish what is unique to the younger generation from broader societal trends, while also enabling an analysis of how older respondents perceive and describe today's youth.

Source: Youth Focus 2025

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