The price is wrong: Why capitalism won't save the planet by BrettChristophers. 2024, 432 pp., ISBN: 9781804292303, Price £17.60, h/b

In his most recent book, The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won't Save the Planet, Brett Christophers provides a timely intervention to a growing literature on the energy transition. Christophers addresses the central issues amidst today's flailing energy transition and provides a stark warning that if ignored, could end the prospect of a just energy transition. That is, a transition that delivers the decarbonized economy while ensuring justice for all. Crucially, Christophers breaks down the complex and often opaque system of electricity. With great care, the author delivers on making this highly technical system accessible to those without prior knowledge of global electricity markets. The decision to focus on wind and solar, despite being the subject of some criticism by reviewers of the book, is justified by the global trend of governments decarbonizing through expanding the electricity capacity of these two central sources. Christophers’ work to demystify electricity is crucial. Without understanding the intricacies of electricity, how can we expect to transform it? One area where Christophers highlights this is in his discussion of support for renewables. Christophers pierces holes in the subsidy regime adopted by governments universally, demonstrating that zero support renewables are not in fact booming but in reality, are a fantasy. Contrary to the views of market orthodox and mainstream economists, Christophers demonstrates that renewables have never been able to generate profits consistently, and cannot do so without significant government support. This is exemplified by the persistent argument, debunked throughout the book, that cheap renewables are essential for decarbonization. Despite reaching this so-called pinnacle of cheap renewables today, celebrated by mainstream analysts as heralding the decline of fossil fuels, global emissions have continued to rise annually. To be clear, renewables are indeed growing but not at the pace required and not enough to unsettle fossil fuel dominance. As Christophers (2024) states, ‘All renewables today have been supplemental rather than substitutive of fossil fuel’. Christophers makes clear, the fight for decarbonization cannot be beholden to profit. Although the book predominantly focuses on the Global North, the Global South is not overlooked. Christophers argues that this region should be the focal point for decarbonization efforts. He meticulously demonstrates how capitalism, through institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, impedes the development of renewables in the Global South at the same speed as Europe and North America. The disparity is due to the financial institutions of the Global North which determine price and lending. One clear example of this is the global energy crisis of 2021 which is often perceived as a European phenomenon but, as Christophers explains, the cost of the crisis was transferred to the Global South. While Europe largely avoided power cuts and increases to consumer bills, countries such as Nigeria faced unsustainable costs due to the surge in prices of fossil fuels. Many Global North corporations cancelled projects in the Global South at lower prices so that they could enter more lucrative contracts in Europe, once again prioritizing profit leads to injustice. The question of labour could be explored further within the book, particularly regarding labour costs, its use as a justification to cancel renewables projects or its role in securing a just energy transition. Although not a central aim of the book, the choice by Christophers to negate this topic misses an opportunity to bring in a key site where anti-capitalist struggles could unfold and where workers are situated. Currently, labour is completely integrated within capitalism, but as one of the last institutional forces that those on the left have, much rests on how labour responds to the climate crisis. As was evidenced with the Public Power New York campaign that was pivotal to securing the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA) that Christophers draws on towards the end of the book. BPRA is legislation that aims to place public democratic ownership in the driving seat of the energy transition. From the start of the campaign, many of the most impacted unions were against public democratic ownership. Despite many of these unions changing their position from oppositional to neutral due to a formidable organizing campaign led by the Democratic Socialists of America, the point remains, labour union opposition to public democratic ownership was in this case and more broadly is a major hurdle to a just energy transition. However, if workers are organized and engaged, they can lead this change. By the close of the book, it is clear that continuing with the profit motive will not deliver the capacity necessary for climate mitigation at the speed required. An illustrative example of this is the Scottish Power executive who is candid when explaining that offshore wind will not be built without major government subsidies. The reliance on the profit-driven subsidization of renewable projects is demonstrative of the attitude of industry actors. The resulting impact, the closure of an onshore wind project, is indicative of this path dependency on profit accumulation that cannot deliver decarbonization at the scale and speed required. If free market capitalism is left unchallenged, the cost of this crisis in the immediate future will most likely result in substantial price increases on energy bills, hurting most of those who can least afford it, it is already occurring with privatized electricity utilities in the United States (Kinniburgh, 2024). In the Global North, however, governments have mostly avoided raising electricity rates and opted instead to subsidize energy corporations to guarantee profit. However, amidst a context in which large offshore wind contracts continue to be cancelled, with corporations lamenting reduced profits, governments are scrambling to find alternative solutions to maintain profit, pushing the costs onto consumers seems a likely end point. It is clear, the trajectory of governments limiting themselves to the market-driven profit imperative is racing society towards planetary disaster and an unjust transition. The hope is that Christophers’ stringent critique of the profit motive forms a central part of any movement that is fighting for a truly just energy transition. Public democratic ownership, despite not being a silver bullet, offers the potential of prioritizing public need; it would be a welcome start.

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