The article in the url below injects some reality into the frothy reception that the recently passed climate bill in Washington has been receiving. In particular, it contrasts that piece of good news, with the breakdown in climate negotiations between the U.S. and China, which happened the same weekend (due to disagreements about Taiwan):
"This month's biggest climate milestones happened over one weekend. On Sunday, the US Senate approved hundreds of billions of dollars in climate and clean-energy spending. Just two days before, climate cooperation between the US and China — the world's largest economies and emitters — came to an abrupt halt."
The article is interesting, I think, because it presents the negotiations these two (largest polluting) countries had been having since COP26, in a competitive light. More specifically, it made the argument that competition between these two giant economies as to who could 'out-green' the other as essential to the planet's climate goals:
"Having the US and China feel like they're competing to do more on climate change in order to write the new global order is the strongest position the world could be in," said [Taiya Smith, a senior associate … at the environmental think tank E3G]."
To me, this reinforces the strength of market forces in propelling progress and identifying optimal outcomes (given all the usual qualifiers about imperfect markets that are required when making such a statement).
Take care
David
David Chandler
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The US-China Rift Moves Climate Politics Into an Era of Competition
By Akshat Rathi
August 9, 2022
Bloomberg Green
