The Copenhagen climate summit saw the failure of UN multilateralism to deal with climate change. The US and China, the ‘G2’, represent over 40% of global emissions and need to work together on climate change as the process cannot move forward without them. This paper points to the importance of the G2 relationship in dealing with climate change in light of the failure of Copenhagen. It contrasts increasing engagement between the US and China over this issue, both in Cancún and beyond, with increasingly competitive discourse on climate technology in the US. This discourse presents competition between the US and China as the solution to climate-technology innovation – both President Obama and energy secretary Chu have spoken of the hope for another ‘Sputnik’ moment; a clean energy/climate technology arms race. This paper argues that such competitive discourse is likely to have the opposite effect intended, and rather than encourage innovation this type of discourse in bilateral relations on climate change may lead to a ‘Sputnik dilemma’, creating tension, mistrust and insecurity in bilateral relations. This could have a detrimental effect both on innovation, by encouraging protectionism, and on cooperation between the two on climate change. At a time when the future of global climate security is at stake and G2 leadership on this issue is critical, US official discourse needs to move away from (re)presenting the issue in competitive terms to open up the discursive space for change.
