Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal
Book by Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin (2020)
Noam Chomsky has taught at MIT since 1995. He started out in linguistics where he developed transformational grammar - a theory stating that every intelligible sentence conforms to not only grammatical rules, but also to “deep structures” which are universal to all languages. Chomsky is a prolific author in not only linguistics, but also broader education, media, war, and politics. He identifies as a libertarian socialist building on the ideals of liberty, community, and freedom of association. Robert Pollin is Distinguished University Professor of Economics and Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He is also the founder and President of PEAR (Pollin Energy and Retrofits), an Amherst, MA-based green energy company operating throughout the United States.
The book ‘Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal’ is short and very left leaning, but surprisingly pragmatic and data driven in many ways. The authors begin with the assumption that we need to reach Net-Zero by 2050 - inline with IPCC 1.5C scenarios - and they assert that the best way to achieve this target is with greater government intervention and the implementation of a global green new deal.
The Big Picture: The idea behind the measures set out in the book is to solve the climate crisis whilst pushing the world away from neoliberal capitalism and towards a hybrid socialist system based on companies owned and directed by workers, co-operatives, and distributed control.
“The steps that must be taken to save life on Earth from cataclysm may also induce significant changes in the nature of human society and popular consciousness. It could become more humane and just in the course of the cooperative effort and international solidarity that will be required to face this impending disaster in which case the concept for the global balance of power might become obsolete, or at least significantly less brutal in its essence”
The Numbers: Pollin estimates Net-Zero will require >2.5% of GDP invested per year and up $120 trillion in total by 2050 (4/5th on supply and 1/5th on efficiency). In his view, the best way to source this >$2.6 trillion annual investment is half from government through a carbon tax, one quarter from redirecting fossil fuel subsidies and military spending, and one quarter from the private sector through caps, taxes, feed-in tariffs and green bonds and green banks.
“The green new deal, in my view, is the only approach to climate stabilisation that is also capable of reversing the rise in inequality and thereby defeating both global neoliberalism and ascendant neofascism”
The Caveat: Chomsky acknowledges there is simply not enough time to break down capitalism to solve climate crisis using socialism and points out that given 90% of fossil fuel assets are state owned already, there is no guarantee the plan will work.
“Dismantling capitalism within the time frame necessary for taking urgent action which requires a major national - indeed international - mobilisation if sever crisis is to be averted . . . averting environmental disaster, dismantling capitalism in favour of a more free and just democratic society - should and can proceed in parallel.”
Whether or not you align with the political stance of Chomsky, this is a book on climate well worth a read. Unlike many other break-it-down-build-it-back new deal books out there this one is grounded in actionable insights, policies, and data.
*Cover Image by Dan Mogford
Not a climate change book but an important read for anyone interested in how to objectively evaluate information and make more accurate predictions about the future.