Ten years after the Paris agreement on climate change, which garnered government commitments to limit the average global temperature increase to well below two degrees Celsius, renewed assertions of national autonomy are reshaping global environmental ambitions and priorities. In the face of mounting concerns over sluggish economic growth, societal polarization, and geopolitical conflict, countries’ environmental agendas are being recast by tighter state control over economies, industries, and technologies.
To some, these trends reflect a retreat from the optimism of 2015. But environmental policy ambitions are not receding. In fact, where climate change initiatives are perceived…