Banning Coal: A Modest Proposal for U.S.-China Climate Change Cooperation

Abstract

The U.S. and China can and should reinvigorate global climate change action through a joint commitment to achieving (or approaching) carbon neutrality by 2045 in the run up to the next major international climate summit (COP26) in November 2021. Such a joint pledge would restore the constructive competition on climate change and clean technologies that emerged for a brief period around the conclusion of the Paris Agreement. As the harms of climate change (e.g., fires, glacial melt, extreme storm events, drought, sea level rise) become more apparent, aggressive action from the world’s two largest emitters is essential.