Claus Leggewie on US Environmental Leadership

Europeans should look to the United States as an emerging global leader in energy policy, says Claus Leggewie of Giessen University. The Director of the Center for Media and Interactivity describes a “greening” of the US political climate, fostered by rising oil prices in conjunction with recent natural disasters. The energy policy shift in the Bush Administration is mainly driven by security concerns. The American federalist system, however, means that stronger environmental policies at the state level could spur worldwide reform, regardless of policy change in the executive branch.