The goal of many developing nations is to bring the standard of living up to that of the United States and other developed nations. The down side about bringing the standard of living up is that energy consumption and CO2 emissions also increase to nearly the same per capita. The US is not the top per capita CO2 emitter, but remember that any amount multiplied by a few billion is going to be a large number.
Even if the US does succeed at reducing emissions to near 1990 levels, emissions from the developing nations of the world will still be on the upswing. If major countries like China, India and Brazil do not take preventative measures as they grow, we’re in for some trouble. While they have the right to improve the standard of living, they at least have the opportunity to learn from mistakes of the past and develop with clean energy.
I like to think of myself as a realist, rather than a pessimist, but I don’t see it happening any time soon. An unfortunate recurring theme in free markets is that cheap usually beats out free.
