In 2026, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, was a bit different than previous meetings of this group of supposed elites. In the past, as I've spoken and written about before, Davos was a meeting with not only economics but climate scoldery were on the agenda. That's changing, and not just because our President Donald Trump went through most of the so-called elites like a dose of salts. (And it was a glorious thing to see.)
No, the drawdown of climate scoldery and advocacy of "green" alternative energy was mostly because the people putting forth those ideas, those arguments, ran into problems all on their own, the chief problem being, frankly, reality.
Case in point: The CEO of Honeywell, Vimal Kapur, had some cogent things to say about things ranging from data centers to cement, and about how energy density matters.
NOW - Honeywell CEO says solar power cannot produce cement or steel, "They are very energy-intensive... It's physics... Renewables remain in the mix, but it cannot bring the amount of joules we need to produce this infrastructure which is required in the world." pic.twitter.com/n4zz8KIfjp
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) January 22, 2026
Mr. Kapur said that one thing that was needed to power these things: Gas.
I mean that what one has to appreciate it is the intensity of the energy, you know, I always like to... I'm an engineer by background, always like to tell people, the mix of energy doesn't matter, how much is wind, how much is solar, we like to advertise that. Kilojoules matter. Because energy intensity has to shift. Not the mix. So solar power cannot produce cement. Solar power cannot produce steel. They are very energy-intensive. You still need a gas-based heating.
At this point, the host interrupted:
Even after three or five more years of innovation in renewables, it's not there?
Kapur: It's against physics. The physics don't allow you to do it. Therefore, when you have to look at energy, in exchange, the context of joules of energy, your challenge becomes different. Because of the (inaudible) they need to progress, what needs to be more infrastructure, it still needs steel, it still needs cement, still needs fuels, the harder you do that energy exchange while you also want to build data centers that consume more energy. It's an interesting problem to solve.
This is an interesting exchange because Mr. Kapur basically says that the energy density (he calls it energy intensity) problem is already solved, with natural gas.
Read More: Davos Ditches Climate: Elites Now Eyeing Economy Instead
$20 Trillion Down the Drain: Renewables Barely Dent Fossil Fuels
At Davos, the proponents of green energy didn't go down without a scrap. Some highlights:
PUBLISHED THU, JAN 22 20262:29 AM ESTUPDATED THU, JAN 22 20268:05 AM EST
Sam Meredith@IN/SAMUELMEREDITH@SMEREDITH19
KEY POINTS
- Top business leaders at the World Economic Forum delivered an expletive-laden message on the green backlash.
- It comes amid deep concern that businesses are increasingly shying away from climate action.
- “Now, the United States … have gone hard [for] fossil fuels and kind of made anyone going for renewables feel like they’re woke, they’re not looking after shareholders. Honestly, I’m here to tell all of Davos, that is not correct,” Andrew Forrest, founder of mining giant Fortescue, told CNBC.
Top business leaders this week delivered an expletive-laden plea in defense of climate action, describing the backlash to Europe’s green transition as an “aberration.”
In an interview with CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Allianz CEO Oliver Bäte said he disagreed with the suggestion that it may just be a matter of time before net zero is dismissed in Europe, saying short-term thinking on this issue is “bulls—.”
Asked about political leaders backtracking on their much-vaunted European Green New Deal and Norway’s oil fund reportedly defending a push from companies to water down their climate goals, Bäte said anyone who has children “will have to worry” about the planet’s future.
They can issue expletive-laden statements as they please, but they aren't changing the facts, and the facts aren't on their side. One group even went so far as to laud China for their green energy efforts, not taking into account that 1) almost everything coming out of Beijing should be taken with an entire railroad hopper car full of salt, and 2) China is building coal-fired electricity generating plants with wild abandon.
Think on the irony of China claiming to promote renewables, and accusing the proponents of fossil fuels of being subservient to China. Meanwhile, as Watts Up With That's Eric Worrell informs us, China is indeed going all-in for coal. And why? To build the components for the green energy schemes of the scolds. That's right; China is burning coal to manufacture components for solar panels and windmills, to help Western climate scolds feel better about themselves.
China, which uses vast and growing amounts of coal to manufacture renewables while maintaining a sham of going green, stands to lose 10s, possibly hundreds of billions of dollars if the world cancels Net Zero. They are using every influence lever they can pull to try to ensure global Net Zero remains on track.
China doesn’t seem to care if Net Zero wrecks the global economy, so long as China ends up on top. Perhaps they hope a broken world would be easy pickings for China’s greedy elites.
This year's WEF won't be the end of the climate scolds. It won't be the end of the strident calls for more bird-frying solar installations and eagle-killing windmills. It won't be the end for calls for us to surrender our comfortable, energy-hungry modern lifestyles so that green activists can claim they found Earth's thermostat and know where to set it. But these, along with the lackluster tone of last year's wading pool of hypocrisy, the United Nations' COP30 conference in Brazil, all tell the tale. Things are changing. Some things that I've been saying and writing for years are becoming more and more openly discussed, even in these elite gatherings: The planet's climate has always changed and always will, and our activities are a small part of it.
Facts are stubborn things. It's a relief to see them reasserting themselves.
