Abstract
The symbiotic relationship between humans and the ecosystem took backstage following the Industrial Revolution. Since then, the policies were made to ensure ever-growing production and consumption. The primary victim of this growth-centred ideology has been the environment. Now, attention is being given to climate change. However, instead of a consensus being built, the issue has emerged as a fundamentally political project driven by ‘the implicit trilemma between climate change mitigation, energy security and growth’ (p. 3) notes Filippos Proedrou, a Research Fellow in Social Policy at the University of South Wales.
Divided into six chapters, the book makes a case against capitalism that author notes has been further entrenched by neoliberal ideology ‘so that alternatives are rarely imagined let alone implemented’ (p. 85). Proedrou notes that attempts are being made like the cap and trade system for pollutants, investments on cleaner practices and fuel-switching, etc. However, these quick-fixes to emissions-related problems are not going to solve the problem. Climate change has been a global problem but due to the lack of a shared sense of fairness free riding is being perpetuated, and a full-fledged global agreement is still a distant dream. Defining sustainability as a normative concept that refers to a state of affairs whereby the needs of today are not fulfilled at the cost of the needs of tomorrow and underpinning it with ‘a sense of responsibility, equity and intergenerational justice’ (p. 113). The book argues that sustainable development needs bringing growth in the limits of biophysical capacity. In this direction setting out an ‘alternative model of energy transition that breaks from the growth imperative tied to the traditional prisms of energy security, geopolitics and development’ (p. 3), the author takes a radical position that ‘if growth, climate change mitigation and energy security are not achievable together’, (p. 24) then it is necessary to prioritize climate change.
Blaming neo-liberal economic ideas for adding insult to injury, the author calls for the ecological economics that ‘adopts a holistic approach, examines complex natural phenomena and utilizes fundamental tools of the economic discipline to suggest optimal economic solutions within the biosphere’s capacity’ (p. 37). The author also theorizes the economy based on its coexistence, synergies and dependence on the ecological system. Holding growth obsession accountable for being an obstacle in the climate change mitigation, he notes that it is because of the growth centrality that we are continuing with the fossils despite knowing the fact that they played a pivotal role in climate change as carbon-intensive fuels. Investment in the renewables has been low because of the fossils being a low-cost alternative. For the situation, Proedrou enlists reasons ranging from unaccounted ecological externalities to risk aversion, inertia, business-as-usual strategies and many others. Criticizing present understanding of energy security that limit itself to availability, accessibility, affordability and recently adding acceptability, he argues that its emphasis need to tilt towards the fight against climate change with ‘the fundamental principle that no energy security policy that perpetuates emissions beyond biophysical limits can be considered sustainable and thus successful in any meaningful sense’ (p. 112).
There have been attempts to alter the present situation, but they remain confined mostly within Europe. For example, Europe-wide cap-and-trade systems have been put in place in the last two decades. However, it largely failed because it has been ‘institutionalized in the place of, rather than in parallel with, carbon taxes and very high caps that effectively retain substantial space for growth rather than a design to return energy use within biophysical limits’ (pp. 70–71). A lesson needs to be drawn from the European experience, that is, to discourage fossil energy use, enhance progression to a mostly renewable energy mix and yield climate stabilization. Proedrou advocates an effective ecological tax reform by which he means levying of taxes on fossil energy, the establishment of a cap-and-trade system and an intergenerational compensation scheme being implemented in a parallel manner. Discussing the experiments that are going on in countries like Germany, Denmark and Belgium for development of a prosumer market in which customers like household, small and medium-sized companies, local communities are not only consumers but also producer. He notes that these have been quite successful and are examples to be followed not only for the Global North but also for the Global South. These local renewable energy systems being a promising solution not only to their persistent energy poverty but also for the wider developmental problems.
Largely the book confines itself to the issue of energy in international affairs. However, when we are dealing with an issue as significant as energy and climate change, it becomes impossible to leave anything out. For example, be it oil, coal, natural gas, hydropower, solar energy or whatever form of energy one is dealing with; the question of geography, politics, technology, human resources and cost, everything pops-up. For these reasons, energy and climate change are highly interdisciplinary. This gets reflected in the book as the author takes all the issues from inequality, health, autocracy, poverty, etc., that are being dealt globally. The book makes an exciting and enriching work for the wider audience. More than providing satisfactory answers, the book points towards the areas in which energy-related relevant questions can be asked.
