alt Hacker News35% of greenhouse gases are released by China and Russia. These are not democracies. They have killed their people to remain in power.
Another 8-9% is from India which while still classified as a flawed democracy is borderline.
And 11% is in the US which I guess we will find out if it is a flawed democracy or hybrid regime over the next few months. But at best it is paralyzed by polarization on the issue. And also due to lobbying/bribery from oil producing nations and states. The electoral system enforces two party rule which caused this problem in many nations, most of which are no longer classified as democracies.
These are also incidentally the nations best poised to solve the engineering issue of maintaining modern QOL while reducing emissions. The US has certainly contributed and China is working the issue very aggressively, largely out of a need for energy independence. But both of those contributions are fragile. The polarization is affecting it in the US and if China secured sources of energy that were cheaper but emitted, they would not hesitate.
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its very interesting, because the US and India will suffer strongly from the effects of climate change.
Russia not so much, the melting of the perma frost might even enable agriculture in some regions previously impossible.
China will also suffer strongly, they know this so they are investing heavily also in resilience measures. anti desertification measures in the green wall, Water management, even geo engineering (which caused some tensions with india about raining off clouds before the water drifts away)
That's why it was so important for the US to lead when it was the superpower that had the authority, respect and most influence over institutions of international cooperation. We're in the process of throwing all those accomplishments of the 20th century away. We used to be the good guys.
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Yet China has successfully pivoted to EVs, is building more nuclear than anywhere else, and is also helping the rest of the planet move to EVs.