There is just no accounting for climate change.
This statement is not figurative, in the way ‘There’s no accounting for taste’ is figurative. There’s literally no common accounting for what nations in the Paris Agreement are doing to fight climate change. And it’s causing headaches for anyone trying to figure out what’s actually going on as world leaders gathered for the White House climate summit last week.
The confusion begins with a 2011 diplomatic breakthrough. Developed and developing nations had been locked in a stalemate for two decades over who would do what to fight global warming. Developing nations, which gained access to modern energy decades or even centuries after the West, argued that the climate problem was the rich nations’ creation and therefore theirs to solve. Through four presidents, from George H.W. Bush to Barack Obama, the U.S. held a bipartisan position that every country had to do something.
On April 22, President Xi Jinping was invited to attend the Leaders Summit on Climate and delivered an important speech proposing a systemic solution to addressing global climate change.
Author
Axel Michaelowa
Populist and authoritarian leaders are increasingly coming to power in large countries. They often have a climate sceptic approach and do away with mitigation policies when coming to power. Increasing impacts of extreme meteorological events linked to climate change could lead to a situation where the supporters of the populist leader or elites crucial for the survival of an authoritarian regime are pushing to do something to address climate change. In order not to lose power, the leader may look for quick and cheap solutions. In such a context, solar radiation modification (SRM), for example, by stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), will become very attractive as it is likely to have low costs and rapid effects. Populist or authoritarian governments are unlikely to care for negative impacts of SRM abroad as they often act nationalistically with an explicit disdain for multilateral solutions. We discuss the incentive structure and political economy that popu
The World Approaching Hell’s Gate, Global Climate Report Indicates
The World Approaching Hell’s Gate, Global Climate Report Indicates
Climate Crisis
The world seems to be gradually approaching hell’s gate as extreme weather events combined with the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic are dangerously impacting millions of lives around the globe.
This is so because the Earth’s temperature has continued to rise unabated, with 2020 being one of the three warmest years on record.
According to the World Meteorological Organisation’s (WMO) flagship State of the Global Climate report, the global average temperature in 2020 was about 1.2-degree Celsius above pre-industrial level.
2021-04-23 09:21 By: Xinhua
At the invitation of U.S. President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the Leaders Summit on Climate via video link and delivers an important speech titled For Man and Nature: Building a Community of Life Together in Beijing, capital of China, April 22, 2021. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)
BEIJING, April 22 (Xinhua) Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the Leaders Summit on Climate via video link from Beijing on Thursday.
Please see the attachment for the translation of the full text of the speech.
Full Text: Remarks by Chinese President Xi Jinping at Leaders Summit on Climate