Is it possible to steer humanity and the planet onto a safer, more equitable and more resilient course, within the structures and constraints of the current global capitalist system? Or is a wholly new economy and society the only way forward if the world is to attain social justice and environmental sustainability? And if this is the case, what is that new system, and how do we get there in the time that we have?
These questions have rightly exercised social scientists, economists and climate scientists over the past two decades, as the climate, inequality and biodiversity crises have worsened, and amidst the repercussions of the financial crisis. Rutger Bregman, Kate Raworth, Mariana Mazzucato and Martin Wolf are among the plethora of authors who have tackled these issues, bringing a range of diverse perspectives, and putting forward ideas such as universal basic income and Raworth’s ‘doughnut economics’.
Into these waters come two fascinating and important new books, both of which open up new vistas and provide fresh and valuable perspectives. Bloomberg News senior reporter Akshat Rathi’s Climate Capitalism is a lucid, compelling and well-researched account of some of the most promising global developments in driving the net zero transition. Rathi spans China, his native India, the UK and the US, exploring a series of technologies and sectors, in a gripping account intended for a broad readership. The book’s argument is that it is possible to drive the global transition to net zero within the existing capitalistic framework, provided that governments lead, businesses act responsibly, and innovation and technological advances take place at pace and at scale.
The book cites several positive recent examples of such collaboration, including on electric cars and investments by Bill Gates and others in the next direction of climate technologies. The book provided new insights into areas of work I thought I knew well, and helpful explanations of technical issues I understand little about. (Rathi’s PhD in organic chemistry and his clear, well-structured writing both help.)
Political economist and economic geographer Brett Christophers, the author of gripping private finance book Our Lives in Their Portfolios: Why Asset Managers Own the World, pursues a different argument. The Price is Wrong is a perceptive and detailed account of how the market will never solve the climate crisis. Christophers focuses primarily on renewable energy and electricity generation. He argues that the current economic system will never enable the energy transition, because protecting the planet is not profitable enough, and the returns on green investment are too low. His hypothesis is that solar and wind farms in many instances remain a marginal business, dependent on states’ financial support, that green profits cannot be maintained in the long-term through subsidy alone, and that the only true solution is to take the energy sector out of the private sector’s hands. In other words, capitalism in its current form is inherently bound to fail – it is too focused on short-term profit and incapable of driving transition at the pace required, lacking appropriate regulation or the leadership of a nation state focused on attending to the needs of its citizens.
I finished Rathi’s book feeling encouraged, and even inspired, that it might still be possible to reconfigure the current global economy on a path of sustainability and justice, and in time to avert the worst of the climate crisis, provided that governments act with foresight and integrity, that political leaders craft new narratives that carry their citizens with them, that businesses and investors act morally (in the way Paul Polman did in his role as CEO of Unilever), and that new and intelligent cross-sector alliances are crafted to cut through deadlock and drive solutions to hitherto intract-able problems. But we are a long way off, as Rathi articulates, and there is a real urgency to the kinds of pivot described. Time is not on our side. And the kind of leadership described in that set of assumptions is hardly as visible as one would like. Meanwhile, populism, war, disinformation and the cost of living crisis make the backdrop much harder.
Christophers’ book – a harder read, with a tougher message– undermined my partial confidence and made me revisit important, foundational questions. It didn’t set out in depth an alternative blueprint as to how societies could quickly transition to a more egalitarian, democratic model in which the private sector’s role was more tightly circumscribed, and public good brought more to the fore. Nor did it assess what the potential downsides of such a model could be. I was left largely persuaded by the analysis, but not certain as to the alternative.
This in turn led me to the (perhaps unsatisfactory) conclusion that our best way forward might be, in the short term, to pursue – with the very best of human ingenuity and moral leadership – the kinds of reform within the existing paradigm that give us the best chance of responding to the global climate, biodiversity and inequality emergencies. There is a lot we can and must do from now to 2030 to try to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, and to keep the goals of the Paris Agreement in sight. Rathi’s book sets out much of what is needed, but a second volume from him on climate adaptation, land use, food, the ocean, finance and other issues would be a welcome addition.
At the same time, perhaps many of us can, in our own ways and in our respective societies, try to open up the space for the deeper dialogue and imagining necessary to usher in the kinds of future that may truly be required if we are to overcome the challenges of the moment. Action on the former should not get in the way of deeper dreaming and activism towards the latter, but nor should imagining a different future prevent us from doing the hard work of trying to shape the present with all the tools at our disposal, however flawed they may be, over the crucial months and years ahead.
Climate Capitalism: Winning the Global Race to Zero Emissions by Akshat Rathi. John Murray Press, 2023. ISBN: 9781529329926.
The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won’t Save the Planet by Brett Christophers. Verso, 2024. ISBN: 9781804292303.
