Isra-Mart srl : "New JFKs" needed to lead climate change fight

www.isramart.com

Isra-Mart SRL news:

Leaders with the "courage and vision of John F Kennedy" will need to emerge from both the business and political spheres if work to decarbonise the economy by 2050 is to secure the popular support it requires, one of the UK's leading sustainability experts has claimed.

During a discussion at The Carbon Show yesterday, Dr Gary Kendall, executive director of think-tank SustainAbility, said that only " visionary and ambitious" leadership would reduce the world's reliance on oil, drawing parallels with former president Kennedy's drive to put a man on the moon.

Fellow panellist Rodolphe d’Arjuzon, director of green analyst firm Verdantix, argued that economic factors such as rising fuel prices and dwindling oil supplies would motivate a shift towards low-carbon technology.

But Dr Kendall insisted that relying on a peak in oil supplies to drive investment in low-carbon technologies would have disastrous economic effects.

"When the oil price gets to a certain level, the economy collapses," he warned. "When oil got to $147 per barrel, what happened? The economy tanked. A few years ago in the UK oil shortage... within five days we were fighting over loaves of bread in the supermarket."

Dr Kendall went on to outline the massive challenge of completely decarbonising the economy over the next 40 years. He said that for the last 150 years "we have only known a world where oil supplies have grown to meet demand" , an assumption which would have to be "turned on its head" over the next decade as the global economy enters a phase where demand must fall in line with falling supply.

Transport, the foundation for global economic activity, is entirely dependent on oil, he said, arguing that, consequently, economies needed to move immediately to a "radically different" system instead of hoping that steady progress towards a low-carbon economy would counter the risk presented by peaking oil supplies.

"The challenge for Britain is to take an assumption that is so deeply embedded and tear it up and throw it away," he said, adding that policy and business decision-makers needed to adopt a mindset that oil supply will be constricted.

According to Kendall, only bold and decisive leadership will prove sufficient to convince the public that the costs of this transition are worthwhile.

"Why settle for realism and pragmatism from politicians? With realism and pragmatism we would never have put a man on the moon," he said. "We need courage and vision without knowing how we'll get there. We need a grown-up conversation about realities – this is going to cost money."

He added that the same leadership was required in the corporate realm. "It's about the power of the individual to inspire a body of people," he said. "It's that person who drives the company, just as a prime minister or president drives a country."

However, Russel Mills, global director of energy and climate change policy at Dow Chemicals, challenged Kendall's hypothesis, arguing that businesses should continue to make incremental improvements in low-carbon technology while waiting for a great leap forward.

"I believe we keep working on the breakthrough, but keep on improving at the same time," he said. "There is an awful lot Britain can do and should do in the interim. [For example] if we can truly drive down solar costs, then we would see solar in all parts of the world increasing."