It’s all in the framing

President Biden can try to frame America’s climate position with all the spin that his administration cares to but I found today’s criticism of President’s Putin and Xi ‘non-attendance’ at COP26 a little bit rich.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/01/fact-sheet-president-biden-renews-u-s-leadership-on-world-stage-at-u-n-climate-conference-cop26/

https://www.politico.eu/article/biden-says-russia-china-didnt-show-up-on-climate-change-commitments/

However, Biden should note that both Russia and China do have climate policies and commitments. In fact, Russia may be acutely feeling the ‘heat’ more than some.

Russia is warming 2.8 times faster than the global average, with the melting of Siberia’s permafrost, which covers 65% of Russian landmass, releasing significant amounts of greenhouse gases.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/kremlin-says-putin-will-not-fly-glasgow-cop26-2021-10-20/

But the chart below illustrates a legacy topic which I have been harping on about for years.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-22/u-s-climate-goal-falls-short-of-european-peers-and-paris-target?sref=qLOW1ygh

It seems OK for the United States to have been ‘dirty’ while they industrialised and grew through their expansive 130 year revolution yet it’s now being critical of China’s modernisation of the past 40 years.

Perhaps much (or some) of China’s historical emissions tally may in fact ‘belong’ or should be attributed to the United States?

How much lower would China’s emissions actually be if U.S. corporations and consumers didn’t order, consume and welcome such stunning amounts of efficiently produced and priced Chinese goods?

Side note: Most of those ships floating off the Los Angeles coast waiting to dock are carrying goods made in China (some from Japan), just so Amazon can deliver them to millions of homes.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/148956/waiting-to-unload

I think President Xi’s economic equality and prosperity directive has many prongs to it, which may amount to creating a more ‘inward’ economy, less outward bound production and resulting in lower industrial emissions.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/02/xi-jinpings-drive-for-economic-equality-comes-at-a-delicate-moment-for-china

I wrote about the ‘lower emissions’ angle in a recent post titled, China’s Climate Change policy In Disguise along with highlighting ‘de-globalisation’ posturing in another post.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/robzdravevski_would-you-like-to-know-why-hrc-hot-rolled-activity-6857598182189338624-xdnM

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/robzdravevski_eu-chamber-of-commerce-in-china-activity-6853958666060754944-FlQc

November 1, 2021

by Rob Zdravevski

rob@karriasset.com.au

#cop26 #climatepolitics #spin #china