UN Showdown Needn’t Be America’s Last Stand on Climate

Tens of thousands of government representatives, negotiators, businesses, and advocates are meeting at the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, over two weeks – including House and Senate Republicans.

A GOP presence in international climate efforts is nothing new. In fact, President George H.W. Bush helped kick off the United Nations’ climate efforts in 1992, when the Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed.

Yet, this is the first year that we are seeing a group of Republican lawmakers assembled like this to attend the annual United Nations climate summit – the most vital intergovernmental forum for tackling carbon emissions. Why? Because the stakes, along with anticipation and tensions, have never been higher.

At the top of this year’s agenda is the Paris Agreement—drafted in 2015 at COP21—which required member nations to return with updated plans every five years that reflect their highest possible ambitions for reducing emissions. As the world is not on track to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goals, this will be the first COP in which certain countries may be singled out to update or strengthen their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and commit to going even greater lengths.

America, naturally, will be in the hot seat. President Biden has pledged the United States will again lead,  announcing in April that the United States would cut its emissions in half by 2030 against its 2005 baseline.

Alas, my organization analyzed his proposal and concluded, given available technologies, that target cannot be achieved without catastrophic costs to the U.S. economy and workforce. Additionally, this feat would necessitate shifting our emissions to countries with far weaker regulations—and if his randomly chosen benchmark proves wholly unattainable, America’s leadership will be undermined.

A better strategy—especially amid great pressure—is to renegotiate or amend the Paris Agreement in recognition of the sobering reality that, by the end of the decade, 90 percent of emissions will originate outside the U.S. If meaningfully addressing climate change for the Earth’s sake is President Biden’s priority, rather than the empty promises to date, he must ensure all major emitters are held to higher standards and fight for policies that foster what America does best—innovate.

It is correct to think big, but 21st Century trends suggest the narrow-minded methods our U.N. allies always rely on—stricter mandates, increasingly ambitious timeframes, exponentially greater spending—are really counterproductive and render total decarbonization of the planet infeasible by 2050.

When the first COP took place in 1995, the U.S. produced one quarter of worldwide emissions, while another quarter was attributable to about three dozen mostly western, industrialized countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The U.S. and Europe could pursue bilateral policy back then and reasonably expect to make a major dent in global emissions.

Indeed, those efforts have made a significant difference. America has led the world in cutting carbon, boasting an annual reduction of 758 million metric tons since 2005. European Union member countries were also successful, averaging a combined decrease of 770 million metric tons.

Unfortunately, China and India’s joint annual emissions grew by four billion metric tons—meaning we’ve taken one step forward and two steps back. Still, the impressive results in the West prove that investing in R&D and supporting aggressive private sector deployment moves the needle.

There are four established goals for COP26 negotiations: secure global net-zero emissions by mid-century; adapt to protect people and natural habitats; mobilize finance, including $100 billion in annual climate funding for every developed country; and work together by finalizing the controversial Paris Rulebook.

The brutal truth is none of those goals is credible if COP26 merely levies further onerous mandates designed to hinder advanced economies.

To the contrary, the way forward is to double down on approaches that have demonstrated success the past two decades—competitive markets and voluntary frameworks. This includes cutting bureaucratic red tape, driving down costs of new technologies through economies of scale, and forging international trade policies that incentivize innovation in clean energy.

America’s unique contribution to reducing worldwide emissions must remain inventing and proving concepts that can be readily exported to emerging economies. Therefore, U.S. climate policy should eschew subjective emissions caps in favor of fostering commercialization pathways emerging economies can easily adopt.

Climate change cannot be solved by focusing on green premiums that wealthy countries take on while others focus on poverty eradication and basic energy access. Likewise, stark realities like China’s ever-expanding emissions can no longer be ignored, because if we don’t reverse the current global emissions trajectory soon, we might as well settle on adaptation and resiliency.

This is exactly why Republicans are headed across the pond to COP26. We want durable solutions to the climate crisis that work as well for Indiana as they do for India. And we know this will require policies that support private sector innovation, accelerate competitive markets to drive down the cost of energy, increase energy choices, and ensure transparency, fairness and respect for the rule of law among international partners.

Hopefully, President Biden will not simply rubber-stamp the U.N.’s initiatives. Instead of high-cost regulatory schemes, he needs to remind the world that America is the single greatest creative force in history—and its ingenuity will be the sole determinative factor in winning the climate battle. 

Heather Reams is Executive Director for Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES), a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization founded in 2013 to engage Republican policymakers and the public about responsible, conservative solutions to address our nation’s energy, economic, and environmental security while increasing America’s competitive edge.