14 November 2022
The West wants The Global South to join it in a forward-looking project to decarbonise the world. So why does it try to offshore its own energy production? The rules let you offset by eg buying up farmland. This is more plea-bargaining.
DEFINITIONS
"The West", "The Global South" > philosophically, this is the spread of European ideas on freedom and democracy to The US, Australia and after WW2 Japan, S Korea and Taiwan. Economically, which is what matters here, this is splitting the world into developed, developing and emerging markets.
Forward-looking > means "overlooking", overlooking the historic origins of much greenhouse gases in Western economies. Should they pay for historic damage? Is it even possible to work out a tab for each nation showing historic contribution to a world "carbon balance sheet"?
So a responsible set of globally-acceptable policies would include polluter-pays, border taxes and country-credits, to catch historic wrongs, dumping and circumnavigations.
The whole project looks like cakeism: how can you expect to maintain living standards while re-setting, it's impossible.
"Offshore" ie stop extracting fossil fuels at home, instead buy in from nations whose economies rely on commodities.
"Offsetting" is buying indulgences. A good example is Bill Gates who owns the most farmland in the United States. He can use this to offset his carbon bill in his technology-based companies.
"Plea-bargaining" are negotiations to get to a win-win that takes account of each nation's special needs and wants, while ignoring those of the planet.
