How does reducing carbon in Brazil, for instance, reduce the effects of climate change in the US?
Unlike other pollutants, carbon dioxide does not affect the local area where it is emitted. Rather, CO2 impacts the entire earth, regardless of where it is emitted. Carbon dioxide emitted in the U.S. will impact Brazil as much as it does the U.S. A reduction in Brazil or elsewhere will reduce the effects of climate change everywhere. Reducing a tonne of CO2 in Brazil, then, has the same benefit as reducing a tonne here in the U.S. So does reducing a tonne of CO2 through wind, solar, energy efficiency or biomass. A tonne is a tonne is a tonne.
