Investors Business Daily has a very good editorial and video posted at their website. The write up was done in response to an opinion piece in The New York Times by Arizona State University faculty fellow Edward Fong titled: The Climate Crisis? It’s Capitalism Stupid The editorial says in part:

Free market economies have become far less carbon intensive over time. Data from the United Nations show that the U.S. emitted 62% less carbon for each dollar of GDP produced in 2014 than it did in 1990. In Hong Kong, which is ranked as having the most free economy, its carbon intensity dropped by 58% over those years.

What about more socialist countries? Communist China emits 86% more CO2 per dollar of GDP than does the U.S.; Russia emits 50% more.

Worldwide, carbon intensity has steadily dropped since 1990. Those were years when free market capitalism was spreading, and the trend started long before the world was taking climate change seriously.

Why? Because even without any government oversight, free markets reward efficiency. And one of the biggest sources of waste is energy use. Trying to increase profits, therefore, invariably means less energy use, and less pollution, including CO2.

Free markets are also inherently “sustainable” because businesses want to stay in business. That means making sure resources are carefully managed for the long term.

You can read the entire IBD editorial here and watch the accompanying video below.