During an interview with NPR’s “Marketplace” podcast released on Monday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen praised China’s “substantial” climate investments, which she said have led to technological breakthroughs that can benefit American climate efforts and could be “transferrable around the world in ways that will make the project of mitigating climate change more cost-effective.” She also stated China’s economy “has lifted many millions of people out of poverty, which is a very substantial achievement.”
Host Kai Ryssdal asked, [relevant exchange begins around 9:35] “I wonder what you see when you look at the Chinese economy from when you first started coming here and today. Because it’s a labor challenge that this economy is dealing with.”
Yellen responded, “Well, they have 1.4 billion people and I guess what I see is an economy that, over many decades, has opened up, has developed, and has lifted many millions of people out of poverty, which is a very substantial achievement. And trade and investment with the United States and with other countries [has] been part of what’s enabled that progress. One thing, of course, I noticed being in Beijing, certainly, since I was here last is that the air is cleaner. They have addressed a serious pollution problem. And while they are, I believe, the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, they have made substantial investments that have resulted in technological innovation in electric cars and renewables that have the potential to benefit, not only our own efforts, but to be transferrable around the world in ways that will make the project of mitigating climate change more cost-effective.”
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