In Manhattan\u2019s Union Square, mounted on a building home to a Best Buy and $8,000-a-month one-bedroom apartments, is a public art installation known as the Climate Clock. Between flashes of \u201cStop Fossil Fuels\u201d and \u201cProtect Earth,\u201d the clock counts down\u2014to the second\u2014until the world is committed irreversibly to 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming. When the clock was first unveiled in September 2020, the world had about seven years and 100-odd days to act. When I visited this February, the countdown stood at three years and 156 days.<\/p>\n
Yet even before the clock reaches zero, it has already become something of a relic. Even beyond the Republican-led assault on climate\u2014part of the broader ideological war on environmental, social, and governance standards and \u201cwoke capitalism\u201d\u2014the past few years have seen a stunning retreat from target-based climate goals as climate elites have walked back their previously hawkish positions. Bill Gates, for whom climate change has long been a signature issue, published a memo last October in the lead-up to the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Brazil, or COP30, criticizing the \u201cdoomsday outlook<\/a>\u201d of the climate community. <\/p>\n Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who as governor of the Bank of England described<\/a> climate change as a \u201cdefining issue for financial stability\u201d and who in 2021 championed a series of landmark net-zero financial agreements during COP26 in Scotland, is now aggressively fast-tracking permits<\/a> for liquefied natural gas export terminals. The same banks that once promised to no longer provide financing for new coal projects or drilling in the Arctic in the name of supporting net-zero goals have recently begun issuing forecasts about the business opportunities<\/a> that 3 degrees of warming could bring.<\/p>\n Even the European Union\u2014long the world\u2019s self-styled leader on climate\u2014has recently retreated from its most ambitious policies, abandoning<\/a> a planned ban on new internal combustion engine vehicles and watering down<\/a> its emissions reductions targets in the name of maintaining economic competitiveness. The consensus that long informed climate politics is fracturing: Whether because of political backlash, economic concerns, or elite resignation, a climate politics organized around global temperature targets appears increasingly unviable.<\/p>\n In the meantime, China has surged ahead in the clean energy sector, acting unilaterally to become the solar panel, lithium-ion battery, and electric vehicle supplier to the world. While China\u2019s emissions reductions have fallen short<\/a> of its own targets, there is no denying that it has cornered the market to become the world\u2019s first clean energy superpower. It is a remarkable change in political tides for those who once believed the Western-designed framework of target-based international climate treaties would save the planet. It\u2019s worth asking what, precisely, this framework was and what it got so wrong.<\/p>\n Rows of solar panels sit in a tidal pool during the daylight. A crane is in the background<\/p>\n Rows of solar panels at a tidal flat photovoltaic power plant in Lianyungang, China, on April 19.AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n When climate change first appeared on the international agenda in the late 1980s, it was framed as a problem with a self-evident solution. Coming on the heels of the successful U.N.-led negotiations to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals known as CFCs, climate change seemed poised to mark another triumph for a distinct genre of international environmental diplomacy: Western-led, science-based, and oriented toward preventing environmental problems rather than reacting to them once they occurred.<\/p>\n The extent to which the ozone treaty, known as the Montreal Protocol, informed climate politics cannot be overstated. Like climate change, ozone depletion was a problem identified by the scientific community as a looming threat rather than an already unfolding environmental crisis; like climate, it was a collective action problem that required buy-in from the entire international community to be solved (even though it was a problem overwhelmingly caused by industrialized countries). Many of the diplomats, negotiators<\/a>, U.N. officials, and NGOs<\/a> involved in climate change had first cut their teeth on the ozone issue.<\/p>\n Expectations were thus high that climate would be solved using the ozone model: establish a scientific consensus about the nature of the threat, cultivate international political concern, and then negotiate a treaty organized around binding targets and timetables that included carve-outs for the developing world. The crucial distinctions between ozone and climate\u2014such as the fact that ozone depletion was caused by a single class of chemicals rather than industrial society as a whole and that, in the case of ozone, chemical substitutes were quickly identified that made it lucrative for industry leaders, such as U.S. giant DuPont, to get behind calls for a CFC phaseout\u2014were typically downplayed in the name of cultivating a sense of hope and possibility.<\/p>\n Climate change\u2019s framing as a collective action problem meant that there was remarkably little by way of meaningful debate about competing political visions for responding to it. Instead, Western elites assumed that the tools for preventing climate change would come from within the prevailing international economic order.<\/p>\n And so, for the first two decades or so of climate politics, the global north\u2019s strategies for mitigating climate change consisted almost entirely of international cap-and-trade emissions markets and carbon offset credit schemes\u2014quintessentially apolitical mechanisms designed to gently ease the world into a lower-carbon future without disrupting the industrial economy. By the 2010s, they were also proving largely impotent. The Kyoto Protocol, in which industrialized nations committed to binding emissions targets and timetables, was adopted in 1997\u2014although, crucially, the United States refused to ratify the treaty because of its insistence on preserving economic sovereignty.<\/p>\n It was an early indication that technocratic governance would prove limited when it came to addressing climate. The EU duly forged on, launching the world\u2019s first carbon market in 2005, but overall, the world barely made a dent in emissions. By 2015, global average carbon dioxide concentrations reached a record high of 399.4 parts per million<\/a>.<\/p>\n A low-angle, medium shot of President Obama in a dark suit, white shirt, and blue tie speaking at a dark grey podium. The podium features the circular Seal of the President of the United States on the front. He is gesturing with his left hand while looking slightly to the right of the camera. To his right, an American flag on a flagpole is visible in the background against a light-colored wall.<\/p>\n U.S. President Barack Obama makes a statement on the Paris climate agreement at the White House in Washington on Dec. 12, 2015. Dennis Brack\/Getty Images <\/p>\n 2015 was also the year that the Paris Agreement was signed. After years of climate gridlock\u2014the nadir coming in 2009, when the COP talks in Copenhagen collapsed\u2014Paris was hailed as a historic breakthrough, a sign that collective action on climate remained possible.<\/p>\n Signed by 195 countries, the treaty attempted to remedy some of the political failures of Kyoto\u2014swapping out binding country pledges in favor of voluntary ones\u2014while adopting an ambitious goal of restricting global average temperature rise to below 2 degrees. The treaty was widely acknowledged as most likely inadequate. But, in theory, the international community had signaled its willingness to transcend conventional geopolitics<\/a> in the name of a common goal of protecting the climate.<\/p>\n In one sense, climate politics after Paris seemed to expand and intensify, as scientific studies were published that portrayed climate change mitigation as, at once, increasingly urgent and increasingly out of reach. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change\u2019s 2018 Special Report<\/a> on 1.5 degrees of warming\u2014which found that, given emission rates at the time, the world was on track to reach 1.5 degrees between 2030 and 2052\u2014was widely interpreted to mean that humanity had a 12-year, Climate Clock-style \u201cdeadline\u201d to prevent catastrophic global warming. The report sparked a new wave of mass climate activism, with Greta Thunberg\u2019s Fridays for Future school strikes and Extinction Rebellion both launching that year.<\/p>\n But, in another sense, this period was merely an acceleration of the same technocratic regime. While successful in mobilizing millions of people around the world, these activist movements were fundamentally concerned with infusing the target-based climate framework with a sense of urgency and momentum. (Flags at Extinction Rebellion protests, for example, featured a stylized hourglass<\/a> to symbolize that time was running out.)<\/p>\n Climate change became increasingly construed as an all-powerful, apocalyptic force, with temperature targets framed as humanity\u2019s only hope for survival. Rather than advocating for new political frameworks or approaches, the need for urgent action itself became a kind of political demand. \u201cEither we prevent a 1.5 degree of warming or we don\u2019t. \u2026 There are no gray areas when it comes to survival,\u201d Thunberg put it<\/a> ominously to an audience at the World Economic Forum in 2019. \u201cWe are playing Russian roulette with our planet. \u2026 The battle for 1.5 degrees will be won or lost in the 2020s,\u201d U.N. Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres warned<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n If the post-Paris landscape did mark a new chapter in the history of climate politics, it was through a turn to green industrial policy: state-led efforts to structurally transform the economy toward lower-carbon energy systems. Some of the first proposals for a Green New Deal date to 2007, when economist Thomas Friedman argued for<\/a> a state-directed, economywide energy transition in the name of U.S. revitalization. But in the late 2010s, talk of a Green New Deal became more closely associated with leftist programs for public provisioning and redressing economic inequality. The centrality of a Green New Deal to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders\u2019s 2020 presidential campaign was no accident.<\/p>\n With this expansion into the realm of green industrial policy, climate became inscribed within a domain of political contestation that had been effectively foreclosed when it was confined to the realm of international treaties. Suddenly, climate was subjected to classical political economy questions about coalition building and distributional politics. But it also meant that any climate policy successes would be hard-won and subject to the constraints of electoral politics, whose timescales were fundamentally incompatible with the urgency message of the mainstream climate movement.<\/p>\n Senator Bernie Sanders speaks forcefully at a podium crowded with microphones, gesturing with his raised right hand. The podium features a prominent green sign that reads “GREEN NEW DEAL FOR PUBLIC HOUSING.” To his left, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with long dark hair holds a folder and watches him speak. A crowd of people and rally signs are visible in the background, with the large white dome of the U.S. Capitol building rising under a clear blue sky.<\/p>\n U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reintroduce the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on March 21, 2024.Win McNamee\/Getty Images <\/p>\n Meanwhile, as the West was debating what a green energy future could look like, China was simply building it. One of the first indications that China was positioning itself as a major clean energy player came in 2006, when the 11th Five-Year Plan identified clean energy as a strategic industrial priority. In the EV sector, this translated to generous subsidies for Chinese-made vehicles and Chinese suppliers of lithium-ion batteries, combined with stiff tariffs on imported EVs. Within a decade, China successfully jump-started<\/a> a domestic EV industry: In 2015 alone, Chinese plug-in EV sales jumped 343 percent; by the end of that year, BYD had become the world\u2019s leading plug-in EV producer. A decade later, it was the world\u2019s largest EV manufacturer<\/a> by volume. <\/p>\n A similar story can be told about any number of Chinese-made green technologies: As of 2024, Chinese-made solar panels and battery cells accounted for 80 percent<\/a> of the world market, and China accounted for about 60 percent<\/a> of global wind capacity additions. The green transition is happening, just not on Western terms, under Western leadership, or for Western reasons.<\/p>\n China\u2019s rise upended a central assumption about the nature of climate politics: When it came to climate action, the West would lead, and the rest would follow. The assumption was built into the original U.N. treaty architecture itself, which divided the world into the developed countries responsible for causing the problem and developing nations that would need to be cajoled and incentivized to adopt lower-carbon energy systems. Yet China\u2019s turn to clean energy was not motivated by the normative framework of Western climate politics of net-zero pledges, carbon markets, or the moral imperative of 1.5 degrees.<\/p>\n In fact, China had long complained<\/a> that the international treaty process was merely a pretext for constraining the global south from developing and famously derailed the COP negotiations in Copenhagen. Instead, it pursued clean energy entirely on its own terms. What\u2019s more, China\u2019s model of state capitalism\u2014insulated from electoral cycles and unconstrained by the need to negotiate with private capital\u2014had structural advantages that Western democracies could not easily replicate. Even the hard-won 2022 Inflation Reduction Act<\/a> (IRA)\u2014the most ambitious climate legislation in U.S. history, with $369 billion dedicated to onshore the various clean energy supply chains that China had come to dominate and to stimulate consumer-side demand\u2014looked like a rounding error compared with China\u2019s state-directed industrial behemoth, which at the time of the IRA\u2019s passage was already producing 85 percent<\/a> of the world\u2019s solar cells and three-quarters<\/a> of all lithium-ion batteries.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A studio shot of an artifact displayed on a small wooden base against a solid blue background. The artifact features a large, rough-textured stone disk with an uneven edge. Embedded or emerging from the upper-left edge of the stone is a green, weathered metal emblem resembling the United Nations logo, including an olive branch and a partial grid pattern. The stone structure is mounted on two short black metal pillars attached to a polished wooden stand, which has a small white label on the front that reads “EXHIBIT 1: The United Nations”.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Why an Obituary for the U.N. Is Premature <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n An artistic collage with a grainy texture set against a solid yellow background. The top half features a rectangular, yellow-tinted photograph showing the lower bodies of multiple people standing outside with luggage, including a rolling suitcase. White, abstract geometric lines are layered over this section. The bottom half consists of a separate, overlapping paper cutout depicting a close-up of a chain-link fence topped with several strands of barbed wire, creating a visual barrier beneath the people.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n The Right to Asylum Could Become an Artifact of a Bygone Era <\/p>\n An abstract artistic collage with a grainy, stippled texture, set against a solid beige background. The central rectangular piece features a dark grey, textured upper section that is torn horizontally across the middle, revealing a lighter background underneath. A simple white box shape sits at the bottom center. Scattered across the composition are several solid-colored circular cutouts\u2014five in bright blue and six in bright red. Thin, black geometric lines form an abstract shape next to the right side of the white box.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Are Political Parties Dinosaurs? <\/p>\n A studio shot of an artifact displayed on a black, textured stone pedestal against a solid red background. The artifact is a white porcelain vase with a cracked glaze texture and a large, serpentine blue dragon painted on its side. Geometric blue patterns decorate the rim and base of the vase. A large chunk is missing from the upper right side of the vessel, showing a broken edge. The front of the pedestal features a small white label that reads “EXHIBIT 4: Chinese Growth”.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Breaking China\u2019s Golden Streak <\/p>\n An abstract artistic collage with a grainy texture, set against a solid orange background. The central image features a monochrome depiction of a globe showing North and South America, which is torn vertically down the middle into two separate paper pieces. Layered horizontally across the center of the globe are two overlapping, white rectangular paper cutouts. A black legal gavel rests horizontally on top of these white strips, with its handle extending to the left and its head positioned on the right.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n No One\u2019s Even Bothering to Lie about International Law Anymore <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A studio shot of an artifact displayed against a solid light-blue background. The artifact is a single, heavily torn page from a daily desk calendar, attached to a metal ring binding at the top. The top section of the paper is textured red, while the main body is off-white and features a large, slightly distressed black number “1” in the center. The edges of the paper are jagged and missing large pieces. To the lower left of the calendar page sits a small white block with a label that reads “EXHIBIT 5: The Future”.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Why Politicians No Longer Talk About the Future <\/p>\n A museum-style glass display case sits against a solid orange background. Inside the case, on a white surface, are seven small, tattered fragments of fabric arranged in two rows. The fragments feature patterns from the United States flag (red and white stripes, and white stars on a blue field) and the Israeli flag (the blue Star of David and blue stripes on a white field). A small white label on the front left corner of the glass case reads “EXHIBIT I The U.S.-Israel Alliance”.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n The U.S.-Israel Alliance Isn\u2019t Special Anymore <\/p>\n An illustration against a solid olive-green background features a detailed line drawing of a globe with latitude and longitude lines. Layered horizontally across the front of the globe are six shredded, parallel strips of a United States one-hundred-dollar bill. The strips are spaced apart, revealing parts of the globe behind them, but are aligned to show the partial face of Benjamin Franklin and elements of the currency text and serial numbers.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Where Neoliberalism Went Wrong <\/p>\n On a light blue background, an image of a map torn in two, with a cutout of the United States flag on the left, and the flag for the European Union on the right.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Is Trans-Atlanticism Really Done? <\/a><\/p>\n Some have suggested<\/a> that China\u2019s emergence as the decisive agent of change in the global energy transition signals a need to fundamentally rethink Western philosophies of history. But it would be more apt to say China\u2019s rise merely exemplifies some of the paradoxes that have always been at the heart of climate politics. Favoring the survival of future generations, for example, has always been perfectly compatible with an abysmal human rights record in the present (as when BYD was accused<\/a> of maintaining \u201cslavery-like conditions\u201d during construction of its EV factory in Brazil).<\/p>\n Meanwhile, even as it became evident that averting climate change would require a structural overhaul of the world economy, the West insisted that the problem could somehow be solved without threatening the prevailing global economic order. And even as climate change was framed as an existential emergency, it was met with political mechanisms\u2014international negotiations, domestic legislation, corporate commitments\u2014that were necessarily slow, deliberative, and subject to shifting political winds.<\/p>\n If there is an irony to China\u2019s rise as a clean energy manufacturing powerhouse, it is this: The West spent three decades building the political, institutional, and financial architecture and popular demand for an energy transition. It dedicated enormous intellectual, political, diplomatic, and fiscal resources to the problem of mitigating climate change. Yet it is China that is now reaping the material benefits. It turns out, in other words, that the West was merely inventing a market for the products China now sells to the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Manhattan\u2019s Union Square, mounted on a building home to a Best Buy and $8,000-a-month one-bedroom apartments, is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[269],"tags":[231067,381,442,18,231068,440,45759,19,17,133,231069,231070,231071,384],"class_list":["post-537685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-audio-embed","tag-china","tag-climate-change","tag-eire","tag-energy-and-the-environment","tag-environment","tag-green-technology","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-summer-2026-print-magazine","tag-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-summer-print-2026","tag-u-s-china-competition","tag-united-states"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116758914560205240","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Rows](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/China-SolarPanels-GettyImages-2271676024.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n
\n A studio shot of an artifact displayed on a small wooden base against a solid blue background. The artifact features a large, rough-textured stone disk with an uneven edge. Embedded or emerging from the upper-left edge of the stone is a green, weathered metal emblem resembling the United Nations logo, including an olive branch and a partial grid pattern. The stone structure is mounted on two short black metal pillars attached to a polished wooden stand, which has a small white label on the front that reads “EXHIBIT 1: The United Nations”.<\/p>\n![\"This](\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/themes\/foreign-policy-2017\/assets\/src\/images\/icons\/audio.svg\")
<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/FP-Spots-Final-04_SW_V1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n An artistic collage with a grainy texture set against a solid yellow background. The top half features a rectangular, yellow-tinted photograph showing the lower bodies of multiple people standing outside with luggage, including a rolling suitcase. White, abstract geometric lines are layered over this section. The bottom half consists of a separate, overlapping paper cutout depicting a close-up of a chain-link fence topped with several strands of barbed wire, creating a visual barrier beneath the people.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/FP-Spots-Final-01_SW_V1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n An abstract artistic collage with a grainy, stippled texture, set against a solid beige background. The central rectangular piece features a dark grey, textured upper section that is torn horizontally across the middle, revealing a lighter background underneath. A simple white box shape sits at the bottom center. Scattered across the composition are several solid-colored circular cutouts\u2014five in bright blue and six in bright red. Thin, black geometric lines form an abstract shape next to the right side of the white box.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/China_SW_V1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n A studio shot of an artifact displayed on a black, textured stone pedestal against a solid red background. The artifact is a white porcelain vase with a cracked glaze texture and a large, serpentine blue dragon painted on its side. Geometric blue patterns decorate the rim and base of the vase. A large chunk is missing from the upper right side of the vessel, showing a broken edge. The front of the pedestal features a small white label that reads “EXHIBIT 4: Chinese Growth”.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/FP-Spots-Final-02_SW_V1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n An abstract artistic collage with a grainy texture, set against a solid orange background. The central image features a monochrome depiction of a globe showing North and South America, which is torn vertically down the middle into two separate paper pieces. Layered horizontally across the center of the globe are two overlapping, white rectangular paper cutouts. A black legal gavel rests horizontally on top of these white strips, with its handle extending to the left and its head positioned on the right.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Future_SW_V1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n A studio shot of an artifact displayed against a solid light-blue background. The artifact is a single, heavily torn page from a daily desk calendar, attached to a metal ring binding at the top. The top section of the paper is textured red, while the main body is off-white and features a large, slightly distressed black number “1” in the center. The edges of the paper are jagged and missing large pieces. To the lower left of the calendar page sits a small white block with a label that reads “EXHIBIT 5: The Future”.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/US-Israel_SW_V1_78b7db.jpg\")
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\n A museum-style glass display case sits against a solid orange background. Inside the case, on a white surface, are seven small, tattered fragments of fabric arranged in two rows. The fragments feature patterns from the United States flag (red and white stripes, and white stars on a blue field) and the Israeli flag (the blue Star of David and blue stripes on a white field). A small white label on the front left corner of the glass case reads “EXHIBIT I The U.S.-Israel Alliance”.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/FP-Spots-Final-03_SW_V1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n An illustration against a solid olive-green background features a detailed line drawing of a globe with latitude and longitude lines. Layered horizontally across the front of the globe are six shredded, parallel strips of a United States one-hundred-dollar bill. The strips are spaced apart, revealing parts of the globe behind them, but are aligned to show the partial face of Benjamin Franklin and elements of the currency text and serial numbers.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n![\"On](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/FP-Spots-Final-05_SW_V1.jpg\")
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\n On a light blue background, an image of a map torn in two, with a cutout of the United States flag on the left, and the flag for the European Union on the right.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n