As the world confronts the urgent challenge of climate change, let us remember that thriving democracies cannot exist in a world ablaze, nor should our pursuit of environmental justice inadvertently steer us toward a fair-weather brave new world.
In this opinion piece for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Byford Tsang and Juan Pablo Osornio remind us that democracy cannot flourish where despots reign, nor in a world breaching climate limits. A significant share of tomorrow’s emissions come from developing countries with more repressed political systems. To fight climate change, democratic countries must find a way to work with autocratic ones.
