The Biden administration’s plan to pursue a 50% reduction in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 is hugely encouraging. It’s already spurred other nations, including Canada and Japan, to adopt more aggressive plans of their own. But global progress in the coming decades will hinge on what happens in developing nations, especially India and China, now the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases.
There’s another looming problem, too. In a few years, the most populous continent on Earth will be Africa, which looks set by 2040 to contribute new fossil-fuel demand fully equivalent to China’s. As such, lasting progress on the climate-change problem may depend on whether Africa can quickly find a pathway to a clean-energy future. Some experts think it’s plausible. Even so, a look at the recent history of African renewable-energy projects suggests it’s far from likely.
