Paris talks within incredibly narrow parameters - Burdon

Peter Burdon.

Discussions at the Paris climate talks take place within incredibly narrow parameters. In fact, it would not be too great an exaggeration to say that the summit’s main purpose is to send the private sector a message about which way it should steer its future investments.

The financial press tends to be the most explicit on this point. The Financial Times, for instance, described the purpose of the Paris summit like this:

“Investors will need to be persuaded that governments are going to make it easier for them to make money from a new electric bus system or a wind farm rather than a highway or a coal power plant.”

I am under no illusion about the scale of business investment required to help developing countries move to low-carbon energy sources.

Read the piece on The Conversation by Senior lecturer, Adelaide Law School, University of Adelaide, Peter Burdon - “Naomi Klein’s ‘Leap Manifesto’: we can’t rely on big business for a climate fix.”