U.S. Reemerges to Challenge China on Climate Impact

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With the Biden administration up and running, climate change has become one of the central issues its tackling out of the gates. Today, Biden announced he’s signing executive orders to tackle the “existential threat” of climate change, among them, halting new oil and gas leases on public lands and doubling wind-produced energy in the next decade.

As Climate & Capital Media editor Blair Palese told us at our recent Spark Disruptors event in November 2020, however, the Biden administration will have to contend with China, who made a strategic economic and geopolitical grab for the climate tech space before the election.

Though other Asian countries, including South Korea, have also announced plans for Green New Deals and set net-zero goals, China and the U.S. tackling climate that creates the most fraught and compelling dynamic both in terms of competitive tension to drive impact, and in China using it (as they do with foreign aid to fill the vacuum left by the U.S.) to assume more power. 

Though new climate czar John Kerry contends the U.S. will be able to work with Beijing on climate change progress without making concessions around security, human rights, IP theft and trade (nor overlooking the fact that they’re efforts to cut emissions so far have been lacking), what Palese stresses here, is that the ball is already in Asia’s court when it comes to the technology and the U.S. will have to race to compete.