How to make money from fighting climate change

Renewable energy presents a unique opportunity for getting communities engaged in reducing their emissions – and benefiting financially – says Reg Platt of IPPR

Before long solar panels could be as common as satellite dishes

If you work on climate change issues it’s hard not to be completely baffled that the ‘is climate change really happening?’ debate was not put to bed years ago. Surely we are all now focusing on the solutions? Apparently not.

And this was the case before the abject failure of the international negotiations in Copenhagen, and the climate science ‘scandals’ that erupted in its aftermath, made things a whole lot worse.

Partly as a result of this persistent uncertainty we have seen time and time again that most people are simply not motivated enough by the prospect of climate change to modify their behaviour and adopt lower carbon lifestyles.

Climate change is a complex problem: it is invisible, it is the result of the actions of people from across the world, its impacts are long term and it is inescapably depressing. It is entirely understandable that, despite the best awareness raising efforts of the environmental charities and government campaigns, most people continue to prioritise their day to day concerns – such as how much money they have – and enjoying themselves.

Now more than ever we need to find alternative ways of engaging people in reducing their carbon emissions rather than asking them to do it just because of climate change. Renewable technologies, such as wind turbines and solar panels, may be just the answer we are looking for.

For more, see:

http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/other_comments/599385/how_to_make_money_from_fighting_climate_change.html