Tackling climate change has trade-offs
7 August 2023
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Mark Littlewood writes for The Times
IEA Director General Mark Littlewood has written for The Times on the climate crisis, and how the ignorance of price signals will only cause more harm than good.
Mark wrote:
“In numerous conversations, an argument that I’ve made about costs has been countered by someone rolling out Wilde’s thoughts on price and value.
“Nowhere has this been clearer than in the environmental debate. Simply because we ascribe immense value to one thing — having a planet that is pleasant and sustainable to live on — does not mean we should be blind to prices and costs when it comes to the broad sweep of green issues.
“If we accept that there is both considerable uncertainty about possible long-term outcomes and that we are operating on a sliding scale, the price mechanism has a vital role to play. Rather than mandating or prohibiting certain behaviours, we can dial prices up and down as more information becomes available.”
You can read the full article here.
Mark wrote:
“In numerous conversations, an argument that I’ve made about costs has been countered by someone rolling out Wilde’s thoughts on price and value.
“Nowhere has this been clearer than in the environmental debate. Simply because we ascribe immense value to one thing — having a planet that is pleasant and sustainable to live on — does not mean we should be blind to prices and costs when it comes to the broad sweep of green issues.
“If we accept that there is both considerable uncertainty about possible long-term outcomes and that we are operating on a sliding scale, the price mechanism has a vital role to play. Rather than mandating or prohibiting certain behaviours, we can dial prices up and down as more information becomes available.”
You can read the full article here.
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