Scaremongering won’t save the climate, capitalism will
Environmental protesters may have shut down central Westminster but they haven’t exactly forced the ship of state in a new direction.
With delicious timing, the business secretary, whose Victoria Street offices have been surrounded by Extinction Rebellion activists, yesterday overruled the Planning Inspectorate and gave the green light to four new gas-fired turbines at Drax power station.
The Inspectorate had moved to block the project, citing — for the first time — climate concerns, but business and energy secretary Andrea Leadsom said that fossil fuel generation will remain an important part of the UK’s energy mix for years to come.
The gas-fired turbines will replace coal-powered units, which is progress of sorts — though not enough to satisfy the protesters blocking roads and bridges in the capital.
Their formal demands include a total rejection of all fossil fuels and total decarbonisation across the land in just a decade. Parliament may have “declared a climate emergency”, but if we want people to heat their homes and see when it’s dark, Drax-style power generation must be part of the answer.
It is not, of course, the whole answer. Renewable energy has been getting cheaper and more efficient, ensuring a commensurate and welcome rise in its contribution to the grid. It is necessary, but as yet insufficient.
The Rebellion activists have planned a two-week protest in Westminster, but moving towards a cleaner, greener future will take far longer.
The good news is, it is happening. From transport and financial services to food production and retail, sustainability and environmental concerns are demanding — and getting —attention.
The activists tell us that our children are doomed, that billions of people are going to die and that nothing less than a return to the dark ages will save us.
Extinction Rebellion can be saluted for bringing a renewed sense of urgency and for mobilising large numbers of people to their cause, but their catastrophic predictions should not go unchallenged and their proposed remedies should not be spared scrutiny.
At the same time, a focus on what we are getting right could go some way to lifting their spirits. Financial capital and human ingenuity are already focused on changing the future — from cleaner sources of energy to lab-grown meat.
As Mark Carney has said, great fortunes are on offer for companies involved in tackling climate change and mitigating its impact. The system of capital allocation is — in Carney’s words — “very much part of the solution.” It will also prove to be far more effective than shutting down bridges.
Main image: Getty