“Not on the path”
Habeck criticizes the USA’s climate policy
March 8, 2024, 6:11 p.m
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Just like the European Union, the USA is also committed to climate neutrality by 2050. However, the German Economics Minister Habeck expresses doubts. He doesn’t see the United States on the right track.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck has scolded the USA for its poor climate record so far. “You are not on the path to climate neutrality,” said the Green politician at a discussion with students at Columbia University in New York. The USA has one of the highest CO2 emissions per capita in the world and has not taken the necessary steps to make substantial changes to this by 2050.
The government of US President Joe Biden, like the European Union, has committed to being climate neutral by 2050. By then, the country’s economy should emit less CO2 than is sustainably sequestered elsewhere.
“I don’t see that the USA is on the path to climate neutrality,” said Habeck. A key reason is the low energy prices in the USA. Unlike Europe, there is no carbon pricing in the United States. Technologies such as CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) to store CO2 emissions would also not be used.
Habeck described Biden’s massive climate protection investment package, the Inflation Reduction Act, as a step in the right direction, but also as problematic from a German and European perspective. There is a “subsidy competition” that the USA won by taking on much higher debt. “There is no longer fair competition,” said Habeck. “It’s the case that the US spends too much and Europe spends too little. But either way we have to solve this problem.”