Look around: rapidly rising oil prices, increasing demand for oil yet flat and soon-to-be-declining supply, choking pollution, severe climate events almost everywhere, falling renewable energy and EV battery costs and stalled living standards in western economies. It is clear to all but those who steadfastly refuse to see it that now is a time to embrace and encourage change and not cling to the status quo or incrementalism.
As James Murray, the editor of Business Green comments, 'investment in energy efficiency delivers net economic benefits within 5 to 10 years whilst low carbon business models and technologies tend to be more labour intensive, thereby creating significant employment opportunities' - something we desperately need as whole economies balance precariously on the edge of bankruptcy.
The just-published United Nations report: 'Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication' has a simple but powerful conclusion: global GDP and GDP per capita will grow faster in a green economy that seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions and limit environmental impacts than it will if we continue to pursue business-as-usual.
Time for the Luddites still looking for more efficient petrol engines and plug-in hybrids to stand aside and forget about 'faster horses'. The cars of today are the horses of yesterday.
