Sustainability
Eurasia Group’s Gerald Butts: US climate change debate has moved from finger-pointing to solutions

EG’s Gerry Butts: US Climate Change Debate Moves From Finger-pointing to Solutions | Global Stage

Five years ago, for the US president to say it's time to move away from fossil fuels sounded like an episode of The West Wing. Not anymore, says Eurasia Group Vice Chairman Gerald Butts. In his view, the climate debate in the West has (finally) moved from who's responsible, to what we're going to do about it — "much more productive ground." Butts admits the enormous inertia in the US political system that'll fight change on climate, but ultimately believes that "when you take the very long view, the direction of travel of has set in."
US President Donald Trump listens to a question from a reporter prior to signing an executive order on AI next to Sriram Krishnan, Senior White House Policy Advisor on Artificial Intelligence, US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and David Sacks, chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., USA, on December 11, 2025.
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