A Green New Deal?

Am I causing climate change? If I’m honest I don’t know the answer to this but the likelihood is I am. It sounds like I am denying the existence of climate change, but the truth of the matter is it’s hard to comprehend such a change due to my own actions.  If we agree that climate is changing what can we, and more importantly government, do about it? I propose that we and the government can do a lot to mitigate and reverse the effects of climate change.

We are told consistently by politician, scientists, and the media that to prevent climate change we need to radically alter and change our way of life now! However, despite these warnings, little changes that will be radical enough to reverse the effects of climate change that have already taken place. To me all this sounds like a big undertaking and a direct challenge to our current consumer society. However, can this radical change be beneficial not just to the planet but to our economy and indeed our lives? I believe that this can be the case.

I came across a book Environmental Debt by Amy Larkin. This book (although written in 2013) has, in my opinion, presented a clear and consistent argument of how we as citizens and the business community can change the way we consume and in effect create an economic system that will create sustainability. As Larkin illustrates, the business community can be a force for good and bad change in the economy. Larkin sights the CEO Paul Polman stating “we cannot choose between economic growth and sustainability – we must have both”. Although this book may seem out of date, it highlights the fact that business have been aware of the damage of climate change but as a whole the world continues to consume and extract natural resources at an alarming rate. Convincing me that economies have to change in order to create sustainability will little impact on the natural world.     

My views on climate change are not from an entirely environmental standpoint but also an economic standpoint. We all know that in the near future natural resources (e.g. oil, natural gas, metallic ores, and water) will become scarce, so it is my opinion that we should make changes now so that we can live for tomorrow and still enjoy some of the highest standards of living in the world. We as individuals can change and reduce our carbon footprint. But to make effective and long lasting change, across society, government needs to step in and support and implement policies that can see these changes happen.

It is discouraging to hear that solar panels could face an 800% tax increase and that the good work of the UK Green Investment Bank could be sold to a private corporation; meaning the UK government has passed the responsibility onto someone else. Government should take a leadership in this fight against climate change by creating a Green New Deal. This New Deal in renewable energy transformation has the potential to rejuvenate the economy and propel Britain into creating sustainable economic growth.

Over the past decade renewable energy has become the cheapest form of energy. For instance, over ten years ago, solar energy cost $600 per MWh now it only costs $100 for solar and $50 for wind power. This reduction in the cost of producing green energy has advantages in reducing energy cost for both ordinary consumers and businesses across Britain. Although this may seem like a logical way for the UK to satisfy its energy requirements, the UK government has followed a policy of trying to ‘Kill off the UK solar industry before it becomes the cheapest form of electricity’.

This has been demonstrated in Germany where the policy of Energiewende has produced remarkable results in the production of renewable energy. Other countries such as the United States and China have also followed a policy of producing cost-effective renewable energy. It is my belief that the UK government, when confronted with this logical solution to energy, will not challenge the Big Six monopoly on energy. Energy has become an integrated part of our lives and to separate the two, in the modern world, will be catastrophic. Thus the UK government should confront the Big Six, invest heavily in renewables, and in return should take a share of the profit (which can then be reinvested in producing new renewable power sources). This can produce sustainable energy at a lower cost to all that use it in the UK.

Moving away from fossil fuels as a way of producing our energy can, in the long term, make us less reliant on oil, natural gas, uranium and from repressive and authoritarian regimes from across the world. Although I recognise the importance of these resources it is increasingly clear that in the future these resources are becoming more scare.  

Larkin effectively sums up my argument: “today, it seems, there finally may be enough financial self-interest and environmental awareness that traditionally antagonistic groups are motivated to work in tandem to solve entrenched problems”.

I recommend you read this book for more information of how business and financial self-interest can still function and make money, but in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way - A. Larkin, (2013), Environmental Debt: The Hidden Cost of a Changing Global Economy, New York, Palgrave MacMillan.