THE CARBON WAR

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The Winning of The Carbon War
The camera focuses on the stony face of Senator James Inhofe, an extraordinary
climate-change denier. It is difficult to read, in those hard eyes, how
this is going down.
The Pope elects to talk about climate change without mentioning the
words that trigger so many Republicans. In Laudato Si, he says, I call for a
courageous and responsible effort to redirect our steps, and to avert the most
serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity.
I am convinced that we can make a difference and I have no doubt that the
United States – and this Congress – have an important role to play. Now is the
time for courageous actions and strategies, aimed at implementing a culture
of care and an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to
the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature. We have the freedom
needed to limit and direct technology, to devise intelligent ways of developing
and limiting our power, and to put technology at the service of another type
of progress, one which is healthier, more human, more social, more integral.
On a visit to President Obama in the White House yesterday Pope Francis
was more forthright. Climate change is a problem which can no longer be
left to future generations, he said then. But today in Congress he has said it
all without using any of the language that would bring the resistance shutters
down in the minds of ideologues like Senator Inhofe. This Pope is not just a
mighty religious leader, but a wonderful diplomat. It will be fascinating to see
the extent to which his obvious popularity carries his perspective on climate
change into American climate politics from here on. The outcome will be a key
factor in the outcome of the carbon war, of that I have little doubt.
Another critical factor in the struggle brings good news today: the
US-China bilateral accord on climate. The New York Times carries a story
that President Xi Jinping will make a landmark announcement when he visits
President Obama in the White House tomorrow: a national cap-and-trade
programme to limit carbon emissions, starting in 2017.
This is a substantial step forward. A cap on emissions in China, enshrined
in national legislation, will send a substantial signal into global markets, favouring
clean energy, and adding to the difficulties of trying to to cling to the
incumbency.