The U.S. has no adequate political framework for climate issues

Editor's note: As the world's attention focuses on COP28 and the negotiations taking place on the ground, this episode of Reality Check takes a look at the challenges that global climate campaign faces. Jeffrey Sachs, Professor of Sustainable Development and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University and the Director of Columbia’s Center for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, shares his thoughts on how U.S.'s political reality makes dealing with climate issues difficult. The views expressed in the video are his own and not necessarily those of CGTN.

CGTN: You mentioned China and the U.S. and the climate cooperation between the two. As you must know, China and the U.S., they just had a leaders' summit in San Francisco not so long ago, and climate dialogue has pretty much resumed. And so far, I think the trend is the relationship is warming, at least it's not deteriorating anymore. What do you see that China and United States need to do more on a bilateral scale or on a global scale?

Jeffrey Sachs: I think that the relationship is a little bit better than it was, but the United States is still pursuing lots of irresponsible anti-China policies. I really blame the United States for these tensions. We need to end the trade and technology war with China, and then sit down not just one or two people, but actually technical teams that work on a common strategy for decarbonization, an agreed timeline.

And it's hard because actually in the United States, we don't have a political framework that's adequate for this. We still have a powerful fossil fuel sector. So does China, with a powerful coal industrial sector. And in the United States, we have coal, we have oil, we have gas. These are powerful lobbies. These are the two big countries that should be cooperating closely by having good relations, and not only a meeting that improves things, but really technical work together, so that we can have the confidence that by mid-century we’re with the new energy system worldwide.

CGTN: Let's talk about the United States for a little bit. The public perception tends to view the Democrats as more willing to engage with China and more green-energy-focused. And the Republicans are the opposite. This is the general public view. Now with the Presidential Election going to take place in less than a year, should China and the world be worried that if a Republican nominee wins the White House and, again, but back away from this climate cooperation? Should we be worried about that? And if so, what should China and the world do to prepare for it?

Jeffrey Sachs: In the United States, the oil, coal, and gas lobby have a big influence in both the Republican and the Democratic parties. And this means that we don't have real clarity of our public policies. They passed one piece of legislation in the Congress that gives tax breaks for low-carbon energy.

But there is no national plan. There is no clear strategy that's true with the Biden in the White House. It was definitely true with Trump in the White House. It's not acceptable anymore, because the world's really in a lot of trouble. And the American political system is quite corrupt, because of the influence of this big money from big oil, coal, and gas on our politicians. We can't go on this way. The world is getting very, very dangerous in terms of the acceleration of the warming and all the consequences that it can bring.

So, I’m hoping that no matter what happens in the elections, that serious people in the U.S. and China, the top scientists, the top engineers, can work together and find a solution. I don't give too much hope for the politicians in the United States, they don't know very much. But I do have a lot of confidence in the expertise of our top engineers, our national laboratories, our scientific cutters. And so, I think that the possibility, no matter what happens in the election, to say this is too serious to play games, and this is too serious for the lobbies. We really need to have a joint program. We need to cooperate on all fronts to put aside the differences, because really, our common interests are very strong. And the reasons for this fighting, which came from the United States side, makes no sense in my opinion.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com. Follow @thouse_opinions on Twitter to discover the latest commentaries in the CGTN Opinion Section.)