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The US Will Never Be A Climate Leader: Here’s Why
It has nothing to do with oil companies, Republicans, Trump or Biden.
It’s no secret that Biden is trying to get the USA back on track to meet its climate targets after the Trump administration and become a global climate leader. Not only will this effort help the US become more resilient to the impeding climate disaster and crushing emissions limits, but it will also enable them to retain their top seat on the international political table. However, the US has a devastating Achilles heel stopping them from reaching this position, and if nothing is done to address it, it will threaten their hard-earned spot as a keystone superpower. This weakness isn’t the US’s vast oil industry, its hardline version of capitalism, or the fact that one side of its political spectrum is getting more anti-climate change action and anti-science. Instead, it stems from the US’s inability to hold its hands up. Let me explain.
This flaw was clearly on display during John Kerry’s (the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate) visit to China. The US and China are the world’s biggest polluters, collectively emitting 40% of humanity’s emissions. Over the past few years, the two have worked remarkably well together to advance climate action, having agreed to a decade of bilateral climate work aimed at reducing methane…
