Climate change is the most daunting challenge and the one that has been overlooked the longest – at great cost. We must act quickly to decarbonize the global economy if we are to avoid condemning humanity to a dystopian future. We have long known that we need to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, develop green alternatives, and strengthen our defenses against the lasting environmental damage that past inaction has already caused. But it turns out that little of this is likely to be achieved through global cooperation or the policies favored by economists. Instead, individual countries will advance their own green agendas and implement policies that best suit their specific political constraints, as the United States, China, and the European Union do. The result will be a mix of emissions caps, tax incentives, R&D support and green industrial policies with little global coherence and opportunity costs for other countries. While it may be messy, an uncoordinated push for climate action may be the best we can realistically hope for. (Dow Jones)