China
More Thoughts on the US-China Climate Announcement
Ann Carlson and I talk with the New York Times on US politics, Chinese implementation, and the potential impact on India.
Ann Carlson and I talked with Edward Wong from the New York Times last week about the US-China Climate Announcement. We repost the Q&A here. From Edward Wong, NYT: The biggest commitments to come out of President Obama’s recent visit to China involved climate change policy. The leaders of the two nations stood beside each …
Continue reading “More Thoughts on the US-China Climate Announcement”
CONTINUE READINGU.S.-China Climate Pact and Domestic Politics
Alex Wang and I Consider the Domestic Ramifications in Both the U.S. and China
The news from Beijing this week that the U.S. and China are committing to ambitious goals on climate change is, we think, monumental. No two countries are more important to tackling the problem than the largest carbon emitter over the past two centuries, the U.S., and the largest current emitter, China. While many observers are …
Continue reading “U.S.-China Climate Pact and Domestic Politics”
CONTINUE READINGA Ray of Hope [Breaking News]
President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a major deal on climate change this morning. As summarized by the Washington Post, China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, pledged in the far-reaching agreement to cap its rapidly growing carbon emissions by 2030, or earlier if possible. It also set a daunting goal of …
Continue reading “A Ray of Hope [Breaking News]”
CONTINUE READINGDo EPA’s Carbon Emissions Rules Point to a New Climate Treaty? Nope.
The Future Global Climate Regime Will Not Rely on an International Accord
The irrepressible Jonathan Chait continues to do what he does best: shredding the GOP’s neanderthal nihilism on climate (or as Andrew Sullivan notes, the Republican Party has become “a reckless, know-nothing, post-modern fantasy machine.”). But Chait makes one big leap of logic that should actually be scotched. Chait points out that contrary to conservative predictions that …
Continue reading “Do EPA’s Carbon Emissions Rules Point to a New Climate Treaty? Nope.”
CONTINUE READINGWhat Beijing Could Learn From George Washington
But It Seems More Interested in Following John Roberts
Alex’s terrific op-ed raises two key questions, one snide and disturbing, the other more profound. As for the first, I couldn’t help notice this point in the middle of his piece: Courts often refuse to even accept difficult or sensitive cases. The Supreme People’s Court has adopted rules for breaking up class-action lawsuits and relegating …
Continue reading “What Beijing Could Learn From George Washington”
CONTINUE READINGChina’s Pollution Challenge
Can a new law save China’s environment?
Benjamin van Rooij and I published the following in the New York Times op-ed page today. In short, it is about the challenges the new Environmental Protection Law will face in practice and the critical reforms needed to overcome these challenges: China’s national legislature has adopted sweeping changes to the country’s Environmental Protection Law, revisions …
Continue reading “China’s Pollution Challenge”
CONTINUE READINGThe Perils of Rail Transit and Democracy
How Decentralized Decision-Making Can Screw Up Rail Planning and Implementation
Americans seem to love democracy but hate many of the results. We want governmental power to be decentralized, whether it’s across three federal branches or with local control over sometimes regionally oriented land use decisions. But when the inevitable compromise that is required to get majority approval means a less-than-perfect result, from Obamacare to budget …
Continue reading “The Perils of Rail Transit and Democracy”
CONTINUE READINGHow Responsible Are Americans for China’s Pollution Problem?
An online conversation from several perspectives
Yesterday, I participated in an online conversation at Chinafile.com on the question of “How Responsible Are Americans For China’s Pollution Problem?” I post the lead comment by David Vance Wagner of the International Council on Clean Transportation along with my response. Elizabeth Economy from the Council on Foreign Relations and Isabel Hilton of Chinadialogue.net (among …
Continue reading “How Responsible Are Americans for China’s Pollution Problem?”
CONTINUE READINGCarbon Responsibility — Producers versus Consumers
Carbon emitters, not their customers, bear the primary responsibility for combatting climate change.
Has the U.S. “exported” its carbon emissions to China by relying on China to manufacture so many of our goods? There seems to be growing support for the idea that carbon emissions should be tied to consumption of goods rather than their manufacture, as the NY Times reported recently. There is a grain of truth …
Continue reading “Carbon Responsibility — Producers versus Consumers”
CONTINUE READINGCOPs: The Erratic Evolution of Global Climate Policy
The latest Conference of the Parties (COP) in Warsaw didn’t make headlines — more like footnotes. Two things have become clear. First, the formal UN negotiations are only part of the transnational development of climate policy. And second, the UN negotiations are moving slowly and fitfully, but they are making progress. Neither of these things …
Continue reading “COPs: The Erratic Evolution of Global Climate Policy”
CONTINUE READING