it's not that they don't believe in climate change -- that's a bit naive, tbh. it's that it's an incredibly weak bargaining position. the thinking goes like this: you care about the earth so much? then you cut back on your emissions. go ahead. that's the US's stance. it's the same stance Brazil uses re: deforestation & agricultural sprawl. they're negotiating in bad faith; they're not stupid.
the US in effect wants to be the last person to exit the room and turn off the lights. do you want them to move faster? then you need to get out of the room first. the smaller players need to stop pretending that they're the same size as the US, China, and India. That's just foolish wishful thinking. nobody's going to hold them accountable to environmental treaties or any carbon targets.
when everyone small leaves the room, then the US will shove the last remaining countries out before it, too. because it can. because you care more about the "environment" than they do, collectively.
That's exactly what negotiations and agreements are for. Nobody wants to cut emissions if the others are not chipping in too.
Paying taxes is annoying. Yet we need things like law enforcement or defense. So to make it happen, we agree on rules and then we enforce them on everyone. It wouldn't be possible if it was based on just altruism.
the US in effect wants to be the last person to exit the room and turn off the lights. do you want them to move faster? then you need to get out of the room first. the smaller players need to stop pretending that they're the same size as the US, China, and India. That's just foolish wishful thinking. nobody's going to hold them accountable to environmental treaties or any carbon targets.
when everyone small leaves the room, then the US will shove the last remaining countries out before it, too. because it can. because you care more about the "environment" than they do, collectively.