Drilled Drilling Deep: Jessica Green on Why We Need More Confrontation at COP
Nov 17, 2025
Jessica F. Green, a political science professor at the University of Toronto and author of "Existential Politics," critiques the effectiveness of COP negotiations. She argues that the current win-win approach neglects the need for accountability, especially targeting powerful fossil asset owners. Green exposes the flaws in carbon accounting and the commodification of carbon offsets, presenting 'radical pragmatism' as a necessary shift. She highlights how wealth inequality drives emissions and discusses potential reforms, including global taxes to empower green stakeholders.
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Climate Politics Are About Asset Power
- Climate politics are an existential contest between different asset owners with incompatible stakes.
- Fossil asset owners resist losses while vulnerable and green asset owners face existential threats from climate impacts and policy.
Managing Tons Hides Political Conflict
- The common approach treats climate as a technocratic problem of measuring and trading tons of carbon.
- That narrow focus obscures deeper distributional and political conflicts that block meaningful change.
How Offset Supply Chains Inflate Claims
- Jessica describes the full supply chain of a carbon offset project and who benefits from inflated numbers.
- She argues every actor in that chain wants the biggest, cheapest credits, which undermines quality.
