Climate capitalist offers compelling case

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/03/2020 (2281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you’ve ever wondered just how dire a threat to civilization as we know it global warming is, this book will open your eyes.

It’s also apt to scare the bejesus out of you.

And who its author is makes it scarier still.

Tom Rand is no left-wing anti-free-market zealot or radical environmentalist. He’s a venture capitalist — a worried one.

Rand’s day job is managing partner of Arc Tern Ventures, a Toronto venture capital fund focused on delivering clean technology while also turning a buck for investors.

He’s authored two prior books on climate change and carbon-emission reduction strategies and technologies, 2010’s Kick the Fossil Fuel Habit and 2014’s Walking the Frog: Solutions to Our Climate Change Paralysis.

Based on current carbon emission levels, the world is guaranteed to warm at minimum 1.5 to two degrees Celsius in the next few years. Worse, based on global greenhouse gas emissions to date, Rand says, we’re on a path to an increase of four to six degrees Celsius.

What this means in practical terms, according to Rand, is that we’re going to experience global coastal and inland flooding, droughts, storms, fires and erratic weather patterns everywhere as “the world continues to get hotter.” And “there will be fights — not just over ideas, but water, food, land and money.”

Rand admits he’s emotionally invested in his message.

Partway through writing the book he learned he was going to become a father for the first time. Imminent parenthood set off alarms about the trajectory of global warming, and changed his mindset.

Initially, he thought “I’d live to see some effects, but by the time things got catastrophic — say 2040 or 2050 — I’ll be long gone with no real stakes in play.

“No more. My kid will be an adult then. Without some sharp turns in our economic system, he’ll almost certainly see some breakdown of social order.”

He argues there’s only one way to halt our slide into a climate-change apocalypse, and that’s to harness capitalism’s power.

He has no use for the likes of Naomi Klein and the far left, and their wholesale rejection of market forces and economic growth.

Likewise, he also disdains far-right proponents of unfettered markets and unregulated capitalism, such as the Koch brothers.

He wants to retool and reclaim capitalism. Profit isn’t an ugly word in his vocabulary; he simply wants profit to align with creating a livable planet.

And he spends much of the book convincingly arguing how this might be done.

Some capitalists are starting to get his message. Several of the world’s largest asset-management firms — such as BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and Liberty Mutual — have started pulling investments out of the coal industry, and the European Investment Bank has announced it will cease lending to any fossil-fuel projects.

Rand wants to move the debate away from the false premise that you have to choose between supporting the energy sector or the fight against climate change.

The only radical thing about him is that he offers a cogent plan to shift us away from fossil fuels fast enough to, just maybe, mitigate the harm we’ve done the planet.

Douglas J. Johnston is a Winnipeg lawyer and writer.