Tag Archives: LSE

Why the chancellor’s statement could imperil UK climate ambitions

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Philip Hammond smallThis post is by Dimitri Zenghelis, senior visiting fellow at the Grantham Research Institute at LSE and Green Alliance associate. It was first posted on LSE’s Grantham Institute blog. 

Chancellor Philip Hammond’s assertion that the cost of transitioning to a net zero carbon economy in the UK will exceed a trillion pounds by 2050, made in a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday, is simply incorrect. The evidence for this is set out clearly and in detail in the Report of the Advisory Group on Costs and Benefits of Net Zero for the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which was drafted by a panel of experts including a senior economist from Shell International and the chief economist of the Confederation of British Industry. Read more

The Paris agreement is a clever new system to drive climate action

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This post is by Michael Jacobs and Ipek Gençsü. Michael is visiting professor at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the LSE and senior adviser to the New Climate Economy project. Ipek is research and engagement  co-ordinator at the New Climate Economy project. This post was originally published by the Grantham Research Institute, LSE.

The Paris agreement provides a remarkably strong basis for future global action on climate change. Going into the COP21 conference, many commentators believed that the result would be a minimalist ‘lowest common denominator’ agreement at worst, a fudged compromise at best. In fact the agreement lies at almost the highest level of ambition that could possibly have been achieved. It is underpinned by a sophisticated understanding of how political and economic change occurs. Read more

How to get prosperity with growth (green growth that is)

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graph upThis is a guest post by Dr Cameron Hepburn and Dr Alex Bowen of the LSE’s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change. It is based on a longer paper.  

The financial crisis and the Great Recession have put economic growth back at the top of the political agenda in most countries. That is not surprising. The surprise is that there has also been a backlash against economic growth, from three completely different camps.

First, those whom we call ’inevitable no-growthers‘, such as US economist Robert Gordon, who argue that low or zero growth in developed economies may be inevitable.  Second, ’environmental no-growthers‘, such as Prosperity without Growth author Tim Jackson, who argue that the planet cannot sustain continued increases in economic activity. Third, ’lifestyle no-growthers‘, such as Lord Robert and Edward Skidelsky, authors of How Much is Enough, who conclude that we would be better off without growth, because we should all stop working so hard, slow down and enjoy life a little more.

The delusions of ‘business as usual’ growth
There is something plausible in each of these arguments, and indeed some of these ideas are at least partially right. Certainly, they do not suffer from the delusions of those who would argue for return to ‘business-as-usual’ growth at all costs. Read more