Comment by graeme

There's a coordination problem at work. If Tokyo stops emitting entirely, it still gets flooded. Whereas the flood prevention actually stops the flood (for a couple of decades anyway). Even though it's not a great solution, it turns out that flood prevention is the only solution Tokyo can actually implement on its own.

I wish we had a global system of carbon taxes, and hope that we might make an effective solution. And I wish cities like Tokyo would push harder for national/international solutions. But I don't think they're wrong to prepare locally.