New Energy Beats The Recession And The Climate Crisis

Acting on climate change can get us out of recession. There are no excuses left; The IMF says we can increase economic growth over the next 15 years and decrease emissions to net zero by 2050

Greg Jericho, 17 October 2020 (UK Guardian)

“…October is generally not a good month for news on climate change…[NASA just] announced that September was the hottest September on record, and a new study found the Great Barrier Reef has more than halved in size over the past 25 years…And it is easy to ignore climate change in the midst of a pandemic and economic recession…[But, according to the International Monetary Fund 2020 World Energy Outlook, acting on climate change will help us deal with the recession because it] boosts growth in the short term and massively prevents economic destruction later…It estimated that on a business-as-usual approach, temperatures are likely to reach 5C above the pre-industrial average by 2095 – in 75 years’ time…

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…[Given the aim is to limit warming to just 2C, 5C] means frequent year-long droughts, southern Europe looking like the Sahara desert, and billions of people migrating closer to the poles…[But the IMF report also proposes a way out with a price on carbon] that starts at between US$6 and US$20 a ton of CO2 and reaches between US$40 and US$150 in 2050…The IMF estimates it will knock back annual GDP growth by a touch over 2% by the end of the decade…[But environmental measures] will boost economic growth…[A price on carbon and massive investment] can prevent catastrophic climate change while also getting us out of a recession…Win-win. And no political party has any excuse not to act.” click here for more

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