Greening the Global Economy

In order to control climate change, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)estimates that greenhouse gas emissions will need to fall by about forty percent by 2030.

Achieving the target goals will be highly challenging. Yet in Greeningthe Global Economy, economist Robert Pollin shows that they are attainable through steady,large-scale investments -- totaling about 1.5 percent of global GDP on an annual basis -- in bothenergy efficiency and clean renewable energy sources. Not only that: Pollin argues that with theright investments, these efforts will expand employment and drive economicgrowth.

Drawing on years of research, Pollin explores all aspects of the problem:how much energy will be needed in a range of industrialized and developing economies; whatefficiency targets should be; and what kinds of industrial policy will maximize investment andsupport private and public partnerships in green growth so that a clean energy transformation canunfold without broad subsidies.

All too frequently, inaction on climate change isblamed on its potential harm to the economy. Pollin shows greening the economy is not only possiblebut necessary: global economic growth depends on it.

Robert Pollin is Professor of Economics and Codirector of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has served as a consultant on energy and the economy for a wide range of organizations and institutions, including the U.S. Department of Energy, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Industrial Development Program (UNIDO), and numerous non-governmental organizations. He is author of Back to Full Employment (MIT Press), also in the Boston Review series, and Contours of Descent: U.S. Economic Fractures and the Landscape of Austerity.