this water pipe rip at 0:50 is magnifique

"The building is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership ... I am a longtime backer of the secretary. In December, when his Senate confirmation was in jeopardy, I wrote an opinion piece arguing strongly that he was the best man to shake things up ..."

So, what about (global) decarbonization? @jonasnahm.com and @jeremywallace.bsky.social had a piece in Foreign Policy last week which I highly recommend: the US administration's actions won't deter China from pursuing its clean energy industries & deployment.

like many things in Republican high politics it makes the most sense if you think of him as an 8-year-boy and Big D as his bully

Thanks for the kind words, Alex!

For more, see my report with Erica and Yushan Lou at the Columbia University SIPA Center on Global Energy Policy: www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/publications...

Thanks to Hongqiao for inviting us to contribute!

Lots of capacity-buliding work needed to build out the regulatory framework and ensure firms can comply. ESG training and certifications are scarce across Chinese companies and investors. This is a great opportunity for EU-China climate collaboration.

Second is about domestic upgrading in line with nat'l goals. Corporate sustainability targets must show how they align with state goals. Strong echoes of how Chinese regulators used used transparency regulations to bolster their monitoring capabilities, as analyzed by @greenlawchina.bsky.social

(Of course, disclosure doesn't change the fundamentals that are driving capital away, and the ESG backlash may make that less meaningful for U.S.-based investors in the near-term.)

China's goals are twofold. First is about int'l capital, which China has struggled to retain with its flagging economy. As a senior securities regulator: “If you don’t disclose, you can’t go public, and you won’t get the support of international capital.”

It's a classic Chinese approach to int'l best practices in regulation:
💎Engage closely with standard-bearers (the Int'l Sustainability Standards Board, who set up a Beijing office in 2023)
💎Adapt their models to your own priorities.