by Dominic Hogg
Eunomia was recently awarded a contract to consider fiscal policies for low-carbon industrial development in West Bengal and Orissa. As I flew across a monsoon flooded land towards my first meeting in Kolkata, I was ruminating upon what climate change might mean for a country like India, and the states where I would be working. And in case you’re wondering, yes, I am extremely conscious of the emissions – the reaction of my disapproving colleagues every time the large suitcase appears definitely means one needs a good reason to go.
West Bengal is fabulously biodiverse, whilst Orissa is famed for the Chililka Lake and the Sunderbans – a coastal area rich in wildlife, and home to hundreds of thousands of people. Places like this make you realise where the front line of the battle of climate change really is – what treasures might be lost and how much human misery might follow, unless we act.
Coincidentally, I had been asked to give a perspective on the Green Investment Bank (GIB) on my return, and came across this comment on the blog of Sir Adrian Montague, the Chair of its Advisory Group (obviously not from the man himself):
I can not conceive of a more foolhardy exercise than the GIB… I’m sure you will be familiar with the recent report by Verso Economics where they estimate that for every “green job” created some 3.7 jobs are lost elsewhere in the economy. Similar results have been seen in Spain who also looked to decarbonise their economy. The GIB is no more than a slush fund for economically non viable projects, probably based around so called green energy…
Do you think the BRICS nations are considering a “green economy”? I think not. The UK is really the only nation worldwide that has implemented such drastic climate change legislation. I’m afraid Huhne, Beddington, Cable, Cameron et al will not be satisfied until we are returned to the dark ages while our economic competitors… march on.
Investment bunk
I don’t want to argue with the Verso Economics work (certainly not when I can only find an executive summary). Nor do I want to focus on the respondent’s mistaken extrapolation from jobs in renewable energy to all ‘green jobs’. (Incidentally, the GIB will initially fund projects on non-domestic energy efficiency and waste, as well as offshore wind). And I would be inclined to agree that the UK might be paying over the odds for renewable energy. The recent farce around the FITs for solar PV installations is a direct consequence of that.
But what particularly caught my eye was the question ‘Do you think the BRICS nations are considering a ‘green economy’?’, and its glib, though wrong, answer.
The question doesn’t demand an opinion, just a basic investigation of the facts. Why do people seek to express views without at least seeking a speck, if not a modicum, of knowledge about the subject? India has implemented a levy (a ‘cess’) on coal, it has developed a trading scheme (Perform, Achieve and Trade, or PAT) for major emitters in key industrial sectors, it has set in motion a massive programme of investment in solar PV: none of this is a secret.
For me personally, as an inhabitant of a somewhat abstract world, who speaks about targets and policies, and crunches numbers to model their effects, West Bengal and Orissa brought me some exposure to the reality of what climate change may entail. These are places where the effects will cost huge numbers of people their livelihoods, and many may lose their lives. The vast majority of the Indians I spoke with attribute these changes, which are already happening, to greenhouse gases, and their government is searching for policies to create a greener economy.
So, I’d urge the GIB blog commentator to turn his would-be rhetorical question on its head and ask:
Why is a country like India, with so many people in poverty, seeking to implement measures to constrain the emissions associated with its economic growth?
And you don’t have to trust me that it is. There is plenty of information available to anyone who troubles to look for it.
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