Image courtesy of the Visual Capitalist

Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen on Climate Change

Please consider Remarks by Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen at the Goeldi Museum in Belém, Brazil

Good afternoon. I am very glad to be here at the Goeldi Museum with Inter-American Development Bank President Ilan Goldfajn and Governor Helder Barbalho and to have spent the day engaging with ministers from the region and leaders from the IDB and the private sector. I have seen today and throughout my week in Brazil the value of three key aspects of the Treasury Department’s approach to advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s international climate and nature and biodiversity agenda: strengthening relationships with allies and partners; making the international financial architecture work better for countries; and harnessing the power of markets.

Climate change poses a daily and existential threat to individuals, communities, and countries. It harms human health, damages homes and businesses, and strains government budgets. It poses risks across sectors of our economies, from agriculture to infrastructure. And the harsh reality is that the people and countries with fewer resources to prepare and respond often must bear even greater costs.

In the Amazon and elsewhere, we also see another concerning trend: the unprecedented and accelerating loss of nature and biodiversity. Like climate change, this loss has wide-ranging impacts, from driving migration and fragility to increasing food and water insecurity. And we are in a vicious cycle: Climate change accelerates nature and biodiversity loss, while this loss turns carbon sinks into carbon sources and eliminates natural infrastructure that supports resilience to climate change.

But being so close to the magnificent Amazon is also a reminder that the transition to a lower-carbon global economy is also the single greatest economic opportunity of the twenty-first century. The transition will require no less than $3 trillion in new capital from many sources each year between now and 2050. This can be leveraged to support pathways to sustainable and inclusive growth, including for countries that have historically received less investment. 

The Math

$3 Trillion per year * 26 Years = $78 trillion.

Not to worry, the $78 trillion will come from “many sources”.

Uh… like US taxpayers? Printing presses?

Yellen did not say. So, let’s assign the cost as a Percentage of Global GDP per Visual Capitalist.

$78 Trillion Allocated by Global GDP

• US: $78T * 0.263 = $20.51T
• EU: $78T * 0.173 = $13.49T
• China: $78T * 0.169 = $13.18T
• Japan: $78T * 0.038 = $2.96T
• India: $78T * 0.038 = $2.81T
• UK: $78T * 0.032 = $2.50T
• Rest of World: $22.55T

The US share is a mere $20.51 Trillion. That’s only $789 billion per year.

Of course, this assumes the entire rest of the world kicks in their fair share.

In addition, we need to add free universal health care, free college education, free child care, guaranteed living wages, and all the rest of the Progressive nutcase ideas.

And we need open borders too.

The whole world will want to move here. This is how you become a socialist mecca, just like Venezuela.

And who wouldn’t want that?

If You Thought Biden Was Bad, Look at the Promises of Kamala

Meanwhile, on our way to becoming a socialist mecca, please consider If You Thought Biden Was Bad, Look at the Promises of Kamala

Kamala Harris is off and running with a mind meld of the most progressive policies of Biden, AOC, and California governor Gavin Newsom.

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