Scientists And Economists Are Warning The World's Governments That Climate Change Will Destroy Capitalism As We Know It

Business Insider - Ruqayyah Moynihan | Alberto R. Aguiar

A protester attends a demonstration under the banner "Protect the climate - stop coal" two days before the start of the COP 23 UN Climate Change Conference hosted by Fiji but held in Bonn, Germany November 4, 2017. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

According to a recent report by scientists at BIOS — an independent, multidisciplinary research unit launched in Helsinki in 2015 — there isn't much time left before we see the fall of capitalism as we know it today.
One economist at the Finnish unit, Paavo Järvensivu, told the BBC that "capitalism as we know it has, until now, depended on cheap energy".
Now, however, things may have to change.
According to Järvensivu, cheap energy has been the driver behind most of the growth we've seen in the past 200 years.
According to the expert, however, the era of cheap energy is coming to an end.
If we no longer have cheap energy, we can no longer sustain the sort of capitalism we've enjoyed thus far.

Markets are unable to find a solution to the problem
According to Järvensivu, the incidence of climate change is indisputable.
Due to the occurrence of climate change, many markets and states are turning their sights to energies that — for the time being — require more effort to produce and, yet, are less efficient.
Considerable effort will be needed to entirely cut out relationship and dependence on fossil fuels.
The BIOS Report indicates that global markets aren't able to provide solutions to the problem — those already put forward haven't been adequate to effectively tackle the issue.
For this reason, the report has called on nations to play a more prominent role in the battle against climate change, rather than just market - and this report isn't the first to endorse the notion that a number of those economic models currently dominating the geopolitical scene were put forward at points during which energy was in abundance.
They're currently not applicable the current upheaval we're experiencing.

We live in a scenario similar to that of the end of World War II
Järvensivu has detailed in the BBC report that we live in a period similar to that of Europe at the end of the Second World War.
"In the post-World War II period, societies rebuilt their infrastructures and practices; now we need something similar so that our economies and practices can operate without fossil fuels.

Capitalism as we know it has depended on cheap energy, according to economist Paavo Järvensivu. Shutterstock

The scientist considers that we have a margin of up to 30 years for this, although in any case it can be understood as an optimistic period that can only be reduced to 15 years."We have to start to see what the concrete tasks are: for example, how we are going to rebuild our energy systems and transport systems. Governments must find out how to do it and how to organize the economy," says the BIOS spokesman.

As a result of climate change, many markets are having to turn their sights to other less efficient energies. Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images

"The result must be production and consumption that provide decent opportunities for a good life, while drastically reducing the burden on natural ecosystems.
In early August, the UN warned that we will eventually need to alter our dietary habits and rate of meat consumption in order to reduce climate change.
BIOS' report also suggested that "dairy products and meat should largely give way to plant-based diets".
The report also explained that states and governments are the only legitimate agencies with the power and legitimacy to effectively put these changes into motion.

Järvensivu and the BIOS Report also suggested that "dairy products and meat should largely give way to plant-based diets". @fujifab12 / Instagram

When discussing the fact that a number of deniers of climate change have risen to power — including many members of the Trump administration — Järvensivu was quite clear on his stance.
"There has been increased airtime for populist movements offering 'easy' solutions," he explained, "which, in reality, are not easy solutions at all."
According to the economist, the rising prominence of governments denying climate change is, in part, down to the fact that "progressive parties haven't really been able to provide adequate answers on how to solve issues related to inequality as well as climate change."

Links

• These are the 17 countries that have done the most to limit global warming since 2017
• The UN has warned that we only have 12 years to curb climate change
• Harvard scientists want to limit how much sunlight reaches the Earth's surface in order to curb global warming
• Stanford researchers say we could curb the effects of climate change by turning methane into carbon dioxide
• This Spanish company found a way to produce fuel without emitting CO2 — and it's made of sewage