What does the price of a battery have to do with the global climate talks in Paris? There's certainly a rough thematic relevance: Because green energy sources like wind and solar are intermittent, battery technology will be critical to making large-scale use of green energy viable across societies. Cheaper batteries are a good thing because they allow us to store green energy for less money. But I'm talking about something much more specific: The possibility of coordinated global action to drastically cut down greenhouse gas emissions continues to run aground on the same basic conflict.