“Green” on the outside, “red” on the inside, they apply the “watermelon strategy”. Their goal ? Put an end to capitalism, responsible, according to them, for the climate crisis. The argument is well known: global warming increased from the 1980s, precisely when capitalism imposed itself as a model. At the same time, our growth – which consumes a great deal of energy and raw materials – cannot be sustained in a world with limited resources. So we have to slow down.
“It is not excluded that capitalism will disappear one day, comments Christian Gollier, director of the Toulouse School of Economics. not recreate a new, altruistic man, taking into account the impact of his behavior on others. It’s a utopia.” And the expert recalls that the planned economies have not better managed the issues of sustainability and the environment. “The development of industry by the Soviet Union was one of the most predatory for the environment. It is impossible to estimate its economic growth without taking into account the drain on natural resources: by counting only capital and work, the calculations do not complete! To my knowledge, it is also the only economic system having succeeded in making a sea disappear. [NDLR : celle d’Aral, dont les eaux ont été détournées pour irriguer les vastes steppes du Kazakhstan]”, confirms Eric Chaney, economic adviser to the Institut Montaigne.
East Germany is no better off. After reunification, some of its assets did not find takers due to environmental issues. “I remember when Elf wanted to buy a refinery. The teams that made the trip there couldn’t believe it: it was a financially catastrophic affair because you had to first spend a lot of money to clean up everything “, details Eric Chaney who, at the time, closely followed the file. For him, industrialization, more than capitalism, would therefore be responsible for the runaway climate.
Better still, capitalism would still have an important role to play in the ecological transition. “The price signal is the most valuable thing we have to encourage economic agents to reduce their carbon footprint, assures Eric Chaney. In the past, the United States established a polluter-pays system in order to decontaminate their rivers and it worked very well. Europe is now trying to apply a similar principle by developing a carbon market. To offset their CO2 emissions, electricity producers and energy-intensive industries (such as steel) in the Old Continent buy “polluting permits” – the number of which decreases over time – on the emissions quota market (ETS). This system will gradually be extended to the maritime and air sectors, then to the heating of buildings and fuels (ETS2). Of course, it has imperfections since some licenses are distributed free of charge. Targeting transport and housing also creates a risk of social crisis in the long term.”
A business opportunity
“However, with this system, the European Union has a lead over the rest of the world,” assures Eric Chaney. “The income generated by the ETS market could even serve as a guarantee for a European fund for green industry with a leverage effect, imagines Philippe Aghion, professor at the Collège de France. This would make it possible to mobilize private capital, reward innovators and facilitate technology transfer to countries that need it.”
Of course, capitalism will still have to evolve in its philosophy if it wants to save us. “To rise to the challenges, we must rediscover the spirit that prevailed in the decades following the end of the Second World War. At that time, there was a balance between democracy and capitalism. The latter contributed to building a flourishing company, he wasn’t just looking to inflate profits,” Harvard professor Rebecca Henderson writes in her book. Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire (“Reimagining capitalism in a world on fire”, not translated).
This software change will not be easy to implement. However, a new generation of entrepreneurs seems ready to make the switch. “We now know that investing in the common good – for the climate, for example – can be profitable. Several studies show this”, assures Rebecca Henderson. Strategies to reduce our CO2 emissions could even be “the greatest business opportunity of our time”, bets Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England. Capitalism has not yet breathed its last.