The environment: Not green, just gloomy

The Guardian, Monday 6 April 2009

In his new book on global warming, the distinguished sociologist Anthony Giddens coins a paradox. What he helpfully calls Giddens's Paradox runs thus: however massive the dangers posed by climate change, their lack of immediate visibility in daily life means many people will do nothing concrete to tackle it; by the time they are prompted to action it will, by definition, be too late.
Other issues are semi-invisible to the naked eye but huge in their consequences. It has been apparent for years that our energy infrastructure needs renewal and yet, as we report today, business leaders warn that ministers are still not doing enough to ensure the UK does not run out of power. Today's energy strategy from the Confederation of British Industry is not averse to a plea for a subsidy here and a sop there. Ministers should approve new coal plants, it says, even without carbon capture and storage.
One cannot blame business lobby groups for lobbying. Where the CBI certainly is right is in pointing out that renewing our energy infrastructure offers an important route to move the economy to a lower-carbon footing. After all, nearly 40% of Britain's carbon emissions come from electricity generation. Yet the credit crunch is having a particularly disastrous impact on the renewables industry, which is struggling to raise finance. Even big players are pulling in their horns. Last week BP announced that it is to cut 620 jobs from its solar energy business. The company's "Beyond Petroleum" slogan should be revised - "Back to Petroleum" would now be more appropriate.
Markets do not ever do the long term especially well, but they get particularly myopic during a crisis. This poses a particular problem for Labour, which has long favoured a private led approach to both energy provision and to adapting to climate change. Worryingly, there was little sign of this altering at last week's G20 summit. True, there were the necessary warm words in the communique. But a summit that was supposed to define the terms on which the world economy is to be rebuilt has ducked the toughest challenge - how to reconcile prosperity with environmental security.
The same is true of the fiscal stimulus being launched by so many countries. Much of the money is being burned trying to reheat the old, carbon-intensive economy. For every South Korea, which claims 81% of its stimulus is green, there is a Britain, at just 7%. That pathetic figure is half the world average. Amid a market crisis, the UK government is still failing to assume a leadership role. This must change - and soon. Taken to its logical conclusion, Giddens's Paradox does not point to a happy ending.