In Our Time: The Co-Evolution of Capitalism, Democracy and Climate Policy in Western Countries

This paper seeks to historicise the political economy of climate policy, to explore the nature of the turbulent times in which climate policy making now exists. Mitigating climate change has become urgent because of the ‘Great Acceleration’ in emissions which started from the 1950s onwards. The surge in emissions has continued through the development of a phase of capitalism often labelled as neo-liberal, which saw rapid globalisation from the late 1970s onwards. In high-income OECD countries this phase has seen major structural shifts in labour markets associated with deindustrialisation, a rise in inequality, declining unionisation, stagnating productivity and growth, the hollowing out and cartelisation of political parties, concentration of market power and a transformation in the nature of finance. These changes set the context for current attempts to mitigate climate change, which become more serious from the early 2000s onwards. In some analyses, a strategy of ‘green growth’ is seen as a way of solving the problems of inequality and climate change simultaneously, i.e., stimulating equitable economic growth while reducing emissions, for example through ‘green new deal’ type strategies. However, I argue that the very phase of capitalism that has maintained the high growth rate of emissions has also created a set of challenges that overall make the green direction difficult. The structural power of high-carbon interests has declined in some countries, working in favour of green growth strategies, but against this are the rise of a nationalist populism hostile to climate policy, and fiscal limits to how far states can manage rapid decarbonisation in a context of inequality. It will be hard to accelerate decarbonisation in advanced capitalist democracies through green growth strategies based on the same underlying political economy, as these face will face constant challenge.