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| Author: | Charles D. Ferguson, Philip D. Reed Senior Fellow for Science and Technology |
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April 28, 2007
The Press-Enterprise
Gov. Schwarzenegger gets it. Wal-Mart gets it. But does President Bush get it? What the governor of the richest state in the country and Wal-Mart, one of the largest corporations in the world, get is that there is money to be made and global good to be done by increasing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gases.
In terms of climate change and energy use, the fate of the world depends primarily on three countries: China, India and the United States. Without greater cooperation soon among them to counter climate change, the economic cost from environmental damage will accelerate and could lead to confrontation among these countries.
Recent efforts at the state and corporate levels, however, could point the way forward. In November 2005, during an official visit to China, Schwarzenegger made the promotion of energy efficiencies a top priority. Paving the way for the governor’s visit, a leading team of California energy experts worked with Chinese counterparts to identify several ways in which China could save money by investing in energy-efficient practices.
Their advice could save Jiangsu Province from having to build 17 (300 MW) power plants during the next 10 years. Schwarzenegger declared that partnership “the model of U.S.-China energy cooperation in the future,” as reported by OnEarth magazine.
This November, Schwarzenegger will make an official visit to India to promote business interests. While the agenda is still being worked out, the governor should take advantage of the opportunity to form an energy partnership with the world’s second most populous country.
In Termites in the Trading System, Jagdish Bhagwati reveals how the rapid spread of preferential trade agreements endangers the world trading system.
America Between the Wars explores how the decisions and debates of the years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Twin Towers shaped the events, arguments, and politics of the world we live in today.
In The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State, Noah Feldman tells the story behind the increasingly popular call for the establishment of the sharia—the law of the traditional Islamic state—in the modern Muslim world.
Complete list of CFR Books.
This report argues that the United States must lead with domestic action on climate change and proposes a U.S. negotiating strategy for a global UN climate agreement that includes commitments from all major economies, while also promoting a less formal Partnership for Climate Cooperation that would focus the world's largest emitters on implementing aggressive emissions reductions.
This Task Force report examines changes in Latin America and in U.S. influence there, while taking account of the region's enduring importance to the United States. The Task Force offers an agenda for U.S. policy toward Latin America and identifies four critical areas that should provide the basis of a new U.S. approach.
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