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Imagine relaxing by the pool on a warm summer’s day, falling into a peaceful sleep, when suddenly someone dumps a bucket of ice water on your face. And one more thing. And the other is until you’re drenched, cold, and fully awake.
This describes how we felt during the New Year holidays, reading a newly translated book on the central issues of our time. The dangers of a warming world are becoming increasingly alarming and visible, and why we do it even though we know what to do. Has the response to the growing climate threat remained inadequate for decades?
The answer, according to German sociologist Jens Beckert, is that the fundamental features of modern life: modern capitalism, liberal democracy, and an obsession with consumption have created an environment in which the future health of the planet requires This means that it has become virtually impossible to provide such services.
For those who have been coaxed into thinking otherwise, like drowsy sunbathers, Beckert, director of the Max Planck Institute for Social Research, has a confronting message.
“The necessary measures have not been taken and will not be taken,” he wrote in How We Sold Our Future: The Failure to Fight Climate Change, published in Germany last year and just released in English. It is written in
Beckert’s argument is difficult to ignore. Yes, as we are told every day, many politicians, investors, and business owners want to reduce emissions, promote green energy, and have a safer climate for our children. And yes, progress is being made, as seen at the annual Climate COP. However, progress at the required rate is hindered by forces that are central to the order of modern life.
Profit incentives for companies could make it “perfectly rational” for executives to ignore the damage caused by future climate change. Governments, in turn, rely on thriving businesses to provide the tax revenue needed to fund schools and hospitals, and the broad-based economic growth needed for re-election. Green growth may be possible, but probably not at the pace needed. Policies aimed at degrowth, or deliberately lowering living standards, are “delusional.” Green consumers exist, but their impact is minimal. and so on.
I was still reading Beckert’s book on New Year’s Eve, when two Wall Street banks backed his claim. Citigroup and Bank of America announced they will leave the Net Zero Banking Alliance, an industry group that Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo also left in early December. More withdrawals followed, with six major U.S. banks all leaving the Climate Alliance within a month by Tuesday of this week. In City’s words, they may still be “committed to achieving net zero”. But they and their shareholders are struggling with financial competition in a country where the president-elect has no interest in progress on climate change and where Republican allies argue that a net-zero alliance could violate antitrust laws. Definitely working on staying strong.
Of course, Beckert may be wrong. His book comes just as the FT reported that electric car sales are expected to outstrip internal combustion cars in China for the first time this year, smashing international forecasts and potentially pushing down oil demand.
This indicates that the long-awaited transition to green energy may begin much sooner than expected. But the operative word is “can”.
Beckert is not a climate change denier and does not want his book to be read as advice of despair.
He hopes discussions like his, like those published last week, will highlight how urgently we need to think about adapting to life on a hotter planet. , gained momentum as fires raged across the Los Angeles area.
He says there is a rational case, indeed a “moral obligation,” to continue fighting for meaningful responses to climate change that could lessen the effects of warming.
Business has an important role to play here. But as he told me over the phone this week, it makes no sense to expect companies to unilaterally reduce their own and their suppliers’ emissions, regardless of cost.
“Business will only change if there is a profitable business model,” he says.
Companies and their advertising agencies often want to pretend this isn’t the case, but they act because they care about it. But the sooner the truth is recognized, the easier it will be to deal with whatever our climate future holds.
pilita.clark@ft.com
