What cost the Earth?

Alfie Stirling and Mathew Lawrence write for OpenDemocracy about the cost of decarbonisation vs the price of inaction:

“Putting an exact figure on the scale of investment required for full decarbonisation is impossible. The level of finance needed is, at least in part, endogenous and highly uncertain given the time periods involved. Ambitious and deliberate market-shaping public policy backed by large-scale investment can drive declining prices and create cost efficiencies through mass deployment of low-carbon technologies and infrastructure, significantly lowering the overall cost of decarbonisation. For example, the price of wind power is less than half it was only a decade ago, and now out-competes gas in new power auctions, extraordinary changes not predicted at the time. It is therefore impossible to give a precise rate or total value of investment required to deliver transition.”

Read the article