Guest essay by Eric Worrall
A team of scientists appointed by the United Nations has reported that a free market system cannot provide the economic transition required to defeat climate change.
Scientists Warn the UN of Capitalism’s Imminent Demise
By Nafeez Ahmed
Aug 28 2018, 1:40amA climate change-fueled switch away from fossil fuels means the worldwide economy will fundamentally need to change.
Capitalism as we know it is over. So suggests a new report commissioned by a group of scientists appointed by the UN Secretary-General. The main reason? We’re transitioning rapidly to a radically different global economy, due to our increasingly unsustainable exploitation of the planet’s environmental resources.
Climate change and species extinctions are accelerating even as societies are experiencing rising inequality, unemployment, slow economic growth, rising debt levels, and impotent governments. Contrary to the way policymakers usually think about these problems, the new report says that these are not really separate crises at all.
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For the “first time in human history,” the paper says, capitalist economies are “shifting to energy sources that are less energy efficient.” This applies to all forms of energy. Producing usable energy (“exergy”) to keep powering “both basic and non-basic human activities” in industrial civilisation “will require more, not less, effort.”
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The shift to renewables might help solve the climate challenge, but for the foreseeable future will not generate the same levels of energy as cheap, conventional oil.
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The new report is available here
From the report;
… Rapid economic transition requires proactive governance – markets cannot accomplish the task
It is clear from these examples that strong political governance is required to accomplish the key transitions. Market-based action will not suffice – even with a high carbon price. There must be a comprehensive vision and closely coordinated plans. Otherwise, a rapid system-level transformation toward global sustainability goals is inconceivable. Mazzucato (2013, 2018) has examined this topic from the perspective of innovation policy and argues that historically, major system-level innovations such as the US Apollo program have required the state to set the mission and coordinate and finance much of the related research and development. According to her research, achieving system-level transition has required and will require proactive mission-oriented innovation – it will not be enough for the state to fix “market failures” reactively. Of course, innovation alone is not enough, and we will return to the question of limiting resource use and organizing jobs below. …
Read moreL https://bios.fi/bios-governance_of_economic_transition.pdf
No doubt the United Nations will step in to provide the necessary strong governance if we ask them to.
In the interests of an accuracy in its depiction, will somebody please change the UN logo as depicted at the beginning of this post from what I assume are a pair of olive branches holding and supporting and surrounding the Globe and its nations into a pair of equally prominent greedy, grasping, clutching, dissolute hands surrounding the Globe.
That would be a far more accurate depiction via the UN logo of what the current UN now stands for.
Good grief!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nafeez_Mosaddeq_Ahmed
Having read the paper, it is obvious that they intend to do away with democracy as well.
Huh, Back in February 2015, Christiana Figueres, then executive secretary of the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, admitted that the goal of environmental activists is not to save the world from ecological calamity —but to destroy capitalism. She said “This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time, to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the Industrial Revolution.” They never learn.
Going back a little earlier to December 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark, Ugo Cheves of Venezuala stood on a stage in front of 2,000 UN delegates & said, “Capitalism has caused Climate Change!”, & got a two minute standing ovation! That in itself demonstrated the level of “science” being discussed!!!
The con artists are so confident they think they can takeoff the mask now.Yet reading this quotes, they are offering a word salad that is circular, non-rational and historically ignorant.
Not to mention that their evidence is lacking and their historical illiteracy is profound.
Did anybody actually read the UN Paper? It most certainly did not “demand the end of capitalism.”
[??? .mod]
That was in a widely-publicized, widely-approved, very popular “CAGW-approved” political speech at the UN by people demanding climate change money from the western civilizations.
What is the world’s economy founded on, and how do you ‘fundamentally change’ it by not destroying that foundation?
This is how you shoot yourself in the foot. You aim downward, then pull the trigger.
I demand that all communists and socialists as well as all those who believe in AGW remove themselves from the planet in the greenest possible way. I bid you adieu.
With out fossil fuel the world can not sustain 8 Billion people.
With out fossil fuel the world will transition to one gigantic Venezuela.
With out fossil fuel the world would suffer considerably more than the worst case of climate change.
Fossil fuel may yet provide the transition time required to discover an energy source yet not seen in our technological future.
I wonder, if we looked back at where the initial seed money came for the first studies to identify CO2 as a problem requiring taxes, subsidies, wealth transfers, and powerful global government, would we find UN fingerprints all over it?
Strong political governance, smells like totalitarianism to me. The US government needs to pull all funding to the U.N. and tell them to take a hike.
I suspect the UN is jealous of the EU’s position as the only supra-national undemocratic government in the world with the legal power to over-rule democratically elected national parliaments. And it is on the point of acquiring its own armed forces. The lunatics at the UN must be green with envy.
They can’t lead themselves how do they think they can lead the world?
Oh goody, then the whole world can be equally poor and miserable.
Get us out of this anti-semitic, communist group of countries that hate the USA.
Hmmm… another example of “them” not thinking things through.
If “Capitalism” ended, where would the UN get its green?
‘Capitalism as we know it is over. So suggests a new report commissioned by a group of scientists appointed by the UN Secretary-General. The main reason?’
Because they don’t like free enterprise. And they will use any trick to get rid of it, so they can create one-world, totalitarian socialism. Doomsday climate science is merely a tool; many climate scientists are useful idiots.
(past) Time to defund the UN.
Ridiculous
Capitalism is the only thing keeping the *really* smart ones from making the most money. Just ask them . . .
The best thing about socialism is never having to say, ” Here’s where it worked.”
So……Without market based economies, how do the nations of the world come up with the money with which to provide for the support of the U. N. ?
So the UN now demands total control of the planet, through the use of force, in the name of greed and lust for power. They would destroy the hand that has been feeding them. Enough, already.
The UN has to go.
Quotation: “A group of scientists nominated by the United Nations said that the free market system can not provide the transition to the economy necessary to overcome climate change. Scientists warn of the imminent death of UN Capitalism. Author: Nafez Ahmed. August 28, 2018, 1:40.
The controversy about the incapacity of capitalism is a controversial issue, and it lasts for centuries.
I propose to eliminate warming – and then polemicize in a calm environment. To eliminate warming, it will take 10 years and start-up capital – one trillion dollars. What is one trillion? A trifle. Rich people have hundreds of trillion dollars available – and one trillion is easy to find. In three years I will begin to return the invested money – and return them with a profit of 2.4-2.7 dollars for each dollar invested.
Warming will restore the most important value – the health of earthlings. But this will take no less than 4-5 generations.
Sincerely, developer of environmental programs, Victor Rodin. Ukraine. Khmelnitsky NPP. Tel. Kiev Star: 961336344. Mail: dorosydos@gmail.com, rodinviktor@lenta.ru
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Цитата: «Группа ученых, назначенных Организацией Объединенных Наций, сообщила, что система свободного рынка не может обеспечить переход к экономике, необходимый для преодоления изменения климата. Ученые предупреждают о неминуемой смерти ООН Капитализма. Автор: Нафез Ахмед. 28 августа 2018, 1:40.
Полемика о недееспособности капитализма – это вопрос спорный, и он длится веками.
Я предлагаю ликвидировать потепление – а затем полемизировать в спокойной обстановке. Для устранения потепления потребуется 10 лет и стартовый капитал – один триллион долларов. Что такое один триллион? Мелочь. У богатых людей имеются в наличии сотни триллионов долларов – и один триллион найти нетрудно. Через три года я начну возвращать вложенные деньги – и верну их с прибылью 2,4-2,7 доллара на каждый вложенный доллар.
Потепление восстановит самую главную ценность – здоровье землян. Но на это уйдёт не меньше 4-5 поколений.