CA buying gasoline from Bermuda, shipped via the Panama Canal, because it refuses to allow new refineries is the perfect demonstration of this.

That's also kind of a pigovian tax though, right? By making gasoline more expensive they discourage its use. I guess they're chicken to make it an actual tax

Also why wouldn't it come from other US states? Seems easier

Pipelines, the Jones Act and CA blend requirements prevent CA from getting much gas from other states.

Sadly, it does not come from other states. It comes from other countries which, amazingly, tend to have much less strict environmental regulations.

Yes, California is a little cleaner because we have fewer refineries and gas is more expensive, but globally we are probably about even.

Exactly, this was the whole point of Trump calling climate change a hoax to benefit China, but somehow this got twisted by the media into not denying climate change being an anti-Trump position.

The base then started demanding this from their reps and Trump almost picked up on this himself. It took years to undo that damage and even now we're barely back at a pro-clean air, pro-solar and pro nuclear position...

This is why politicians are usually expected to choose their words carefully. Most of them know that what they say matters and has effects on the real world.

US is the largest historical emitter… responsible for something like 25% of all man made CO2 emissions

The entire west world contributes 28.8%. US is about 11%. [1]

[1] https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2025/co2-em...

You’re quoting the figures for a one year

That’s a different question. The person you’re replying to was referring to historical totals and they were right:

https://ourworldindata.org/contributed-most-global-co2

> the United States has emitted more CO2 than any other country to date: at around 400 billion tonnes since 1751, it is responsible for 25% of historical emissions; this is twice more than China – the world’s second-largest national contributor

Would someone like to explain why the Chinese (if as you say produce 30-35% of global emissions) don't appear to see a problem or at least if alluding to it as they do, fail to do much about it as major contributors of emissions? And then of course there are the countries proud of a relative lack of emissions who are merely exporting the problem to somewhere else, often enough, China.

Yes, they're still burning coal and gas but China are making huge strides in non CO2 intensive electricity generation

China are the reason solar has become so affordable for the rest of the world

The latest major IEA estimate says China’s CO₂ emissions reached 12.6 Gt in 2023, up 4.7% from 2022.

On the other hand U.S. CO₂ emissions decreased slightly between 2022 and 2023. About 2–3% (from 4.79 to 4.68 Gt)

I just do not understand how we can claim any kind of progress here.

They absolutely are. You just haven't paid any attention.

Just for reference China has about 17% of the world's population, and India has about 18%.

China has also been deploying lots of renewable and nuclear energy, and their carbon emissions actually falling.

Solar and wind have gotten so cheap we should be able to forgo more fossil fuel deployment in developing nations.

China CO2 emission increased a lot over the last 20 years and it is growing every years. Not decreasing but increasing. The IEA estimate says China’s CO₂ emissions reached 12.6 Gt in 2023, up 4.7% from 2022.

On the other hand U.S. CO₂ emissions decreased slightly between 2022 and 2023. About 2–3% (from 4.79 to 4.68 Gt)

[1] https://www.iea.org/countries/china/emissions

And then in 2025 it was exactly the other way around. China's emissions decreased, the US's increased.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45108292

This is a CCP propaganda article. The IEA have not yet released 2024 estimates.