Editorial | Climate fight no place for US self-interest
- Ruling by country’s top court on use of coal by power industry yet another backward step for global strategy
Global climate change goals have yet again been put in jeopardy by the United States. The world’s second-biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases behind rising temperatures has taken another backward step in the fight, this time as a result of a ruling by its conservative-majority top court.
A to-be-enacted law authorising environmental protection officials to curb the use of coal by the power industry was determined to be an overreach of jurisdiction.
With President Joe Biden’s strategy now in turmoil, China and other nations have good reason to worry whether a looming crisis can be averted.
Biden has pledged the US will cut emissions in half by the end of the decade, take a leading position in the climate change battle and that the nation’s electricity grid will be carbon-free by 2035.
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China scales back emissions target with half of new electricity use to come from renewables by 2025
Given his country is behind 14 per cent of the world’s polluting gases and is historically by far the biggest emitter, there is every reason for decisive action.