Climate Capitalism

Matthew Lockwood of the Guardian published an op-ed on Monday arguing that the free markets will never fix climate change and that government intevention is the only solution.  He makes several points that are difficult to dispute, such as that measures currently being considered are wholly inadequate to solve the problem, that that political pressures keep politicians from being able to make truly radical changes to energy policy needed to combat global warming, and that greatly increased investment in infrastructure to support green technology is essential.  He concludes that “the free market will not deliver.  We governments to take a lead.”

My only quarrel with the piece is the absolutist nature of the conclusion.  I don’t dispute Lockwood’s description of the issues.  Clearly more government intervention would be helpful.  Clearly more investment in technology and innovation are needed.  However, saying that we need more government intervention isn’t any more a solution to the problem than saying we need the free market to incentive green energy innovation. The difficulty in implementing radical governmental change is all the more reason why the free markets must deliver at least part of the solution.  We can’t rely on government alone to bail us out of this problem.