Let’s face two facts that are now abundantly clear. First, we have very little time to address the climate crisis in a way that will avoid the worst, irreversible consequences of our continued pollution of the Earth’s atmosphere. Second, the collective willpower (and resulting action) of the countries that attend annual climate summits, such as the recent one held in Glasgow, are nowhere near the level of effort required to avert those consequences.
As the architect of California’s climate policies in the administration of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, which have made the world’s 5th largest economy a proof-of-concept that industrialized nations can actually achieve climate and investment targets set at those annual conferences in Kyoto, Copenhagen, and Paris, I regret having to throw cold water on the results of the Glasgow gathering. And as someone who has advised US climate negotiator John Kerry and China’s climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua (as well as countless governors and mayors), I wish they had more support from their own governments to achieve the goals they both have so clearly articulated for the world, such that others would be more willing to follow their leadership.
But the annual summits have been a shell game of gaining attention on big ideas, only to change the game itself later on. The agreement reached in Glasgow essentially ignores the one reached in 2015 in Paris (punting new commitments to be determined in 2022), just as the Paris deal seemed ignorant of the one struck in Kyoto that came into effect in 2007 or the financing commitments made in Copenhagen in 2009. It’s one thing to adjust goals as progress or setbacks are experienced, but quite another to declare “progress” by changing the rules of the game itself.
All of this has had the benefit of inspiring (or scaring) individuals and corporations to take action, however that’s not enough either. People are demonstrating in the streets in record numbers, but rarely have specific demands of their leaders or the companies they support with their spending. Nor has the public in most countries voted for leaders that share their sense of urgency and opportunity that would result in adequate action. Companies and financial institutions are increasing their commitments to net zero emissions, but none that I have seen would reduce their carbon pollution in the next five to seven years to be a sufficient down payment on longer term goals such that the planet would not be doomed to irreversible climate disasters for generations to come.
So is there a way to extinguish what is already a raging fire? Is there anyone who could take such a bold step that the goals of all the climate summits past, however they might be measured, could actually be achieved?
The answers are “yes” and “Joe Biden”.
As the former occupant of the White House so politically and self-destructively demonstrated, a US President can impose tariffs with the stroke of a pen, quite literally overnight. President Biden could declare that the world has failed to act collectively with the level of ambition needed to avert the looming crisis and that his own nation’s Congress continues its decades-long refusal to act responsibly for reasons that are unlikely to change in the few years we have left to protect this generation and those yet to come.
He can then impose a carbon tariff on all goods imported into the US based on their carbon footprint, meaning sustainable, climate-friendly goods would pay little or nothing, but those made and shipped from deforestation, polluting energy sources, and waste-generating processes would pay much more. The funds collected would be used to invest in US climate solutions (renewable energy, clean transportation, waste reduction and conversion, regenerative agriculture, etc) and to fulfill our commitments to invest in that same “climate infrastructure” in developing nations.
Yes, tariffs amount to taxes, which get paid by manufacturers taking less profit or by passing the cost on to consumers, but we must stop pretending that using the atmosphere as a garbage dump has no cost and we would benefit from a future of lower taxes that will otherwise pay for cleaning up the results of unchecked wildfires, droughts, megastorms, failed crops, and sicker citizens.
Mr. President, the ball is in your court. Or should I say the fire extinguisher is in your hand. Please take the shot.
Terry Tamminen served as Secretary of the California EPA for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and is the author of “Cracking the Carbon Code: The Key to Sustainable Profits in the New Economy”