https://energytransition.org/2019/07/public-problems-private-solutions-the-un-addresses-the-climate-technology-gap/ The Global Energiewende Mon, 02 Sep 2019 13:03:18 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 https://energytransition.org/2019/07/public-problems-private-solutions-the-un-addresses-the-climate-technology-gap/#comment-15121 Mon, 05 Aug 2019 19:29:42 +0000 https://energytransition.org/?p=20355#comment-15121 As Adam Smith pointed out 250 years ago, we rely for our essential food on the self-interest of the butcher and baker, not their benevolence. Most of the time, this works well. The same is true for the decarbonisation of electricity across the world: renewables are cheaper than fossil – even without a carbon tax or or the compensation for externalities – so capitalism or self-help socialism will do the rollout. This is almost certainly also true for electric land transport. The author is on stronger ground in arguing for inter-state action on adaptation spending. Governments have been doing flood control for 5,000 years.

]]>