China, EU, USA Pretend Enemies … Press; Cost-Efficient Climate Policy Being Pushed Back Yet Again ? (2)

By Mathew Carr

Dec. 20-23, 2021 — This Economist story is depressing, with ramped up tensions between world superpowers just when collaboration is most needed.

www.economist.com/china/lithuania-evacuates-its-embassy-in-china/21806843

CarrZee comment

… this tension between China, USA and the EU does not seem genuine ….

Are the three of them, together most to blame for the climate crisis, ganging up on the rest of the world, in reality?

China seems to be trying a little, at least:

Let’s just get on with inserting carbon prices now to save the climate…starting in these three major regions covering more than half global emissions …

Europe’s underway …

Carbon price around 80 euros a ton Tuesday. CO2 prices and coverage are much lower in the US and China.

Systems in each of the three regions don’t need to be mirror images of each other – and they won’t be.

Installing CO2 prices now won’t seem so bad to voters because coal, oil and natgas prices are already high — still they will attract criticism and will be difficult to deploy fairly.

Biden’s vow to try again in the USA in early 2022 after failing to convince lawmakers on Build Back Better might represent a chance for a fee-and-dividend carbon system in North America, because it creates a new public asset — carbon allowances — from increasingly thick air (from a heat-trapping perspective).

More depression here:

CarrZee pano picture from COP26 Glasgow

And this also is a good point on the USA’s pullback:

(Adds Atlantic story)

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