Big Money Can Beat Climate Change
Capitalism can crack climate change. But only if it takes risks; Anglo-Saxon capitalism’s drive to maximise profits in the short term won’t save the planet. Perhaps the Chinese model can?
Larry Elliott, 16 August 2018 (UK Guardian)
“…The struggle to combat climate change brings out the best and worst of capitalism. Decarbonisation of the economy requires alternatives for coal and cars that run on diesel, and that plays to capitalism’s strengths. Innovation is what capitalism is all about, and there has been staggeringly rapid progress in developing clean alternatives to coal, oil and gas. The cost of producing solar- and wind-powered electricity has collapsed. Great advances are also being made in battery technology, which is vital for the new generation of electricity-powered vehicles. Humans are endlessly creative. In the end, they will crack climate change…[But capitalism] has trouble thinking beyond the here and now. People running big corporations see their job as maximising profits in the short term, even if that means causing irreparable damage to the world’s ecosystem…
The Paris agreement in 2015, which committed the international community to restricting global warming to well below two degrees centigrade, shows that the issue is taken more seriously than it was two or three decades ago, but that doesn’t mean that it is top priority…The good news is that in Beijing and New Delhi, policymakers have woken up to the idea that green growth is better growth…But the bad news is that progress towards decarbonisation is still not fast enough…Winning the race against time requires political leadership…[that sees] the world needs to wage war against climate change. Powerful vested interests [and deniers] will say there is plenty of time to act…These people need to be called out…” click here for more
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