“Only general prosperity can produce widespread consent for emissions reductions, and only affordable energy for all can deliver prosperity.”
How to square this circle is the vital topic of a new paper published today (Thursday 11 July). ‘THE VITAL SPARK: innovating clean and affordable energy for all' was coordinated by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and is co-authored by 20 leading experts in energy and climate change issues from England, Japan, Brazil, Sweden, Canada, Germany and the USA, all members of the Hartwell group.
It is now known that Kyoto Protocol-type policy had no noticeable effect on reducing humanity's carbon footprint. Despite this failure, the report argues, we can still hope for a transition towards a high energy, low-carbon economy in which clean, safe and affordable energy is available to all. THE VITAL SPARK does not describe ‘how to do energy innovation successfully’, because no single prescription can fit all circumstances. Instead, the authors propose 11 building blocks that are the necessary conditions for success in the energy transition that humanity needs so badly for so many reasons. Some may be tough for today’s policy-makers to accept but the co-authors argue that all are essential.
These include the argument that only a high-energy planet is morally defensible or politically viable. But at present, only carbon-intensive sources of energy offer a realistic prospect of this, with obvious hazards to the climate. And current ‘green’ or ‘renewable’ alternatives are still far from viability, despite massive governmental subsidies. The deployment models of the last decade have been badly flawed.
The report analyses climate and energy policy of the past decade 2003-2013. THE VITAL SPARK learns the lessons of those years. Sharply critical of subsidy-driven ‘renewable’ energy, which has failed to perform and has created ‘bubble’ markets, the report contains a powerful analysis of the shale gas revolution and other unpredicted surprises. It explains why mandated or ‘driven’ energy transitions are difficult and unusual (because conscious energy policy is such a weak and unreliable tool), although not impossible; and it places high priority on the morality of policy if it is to acquire necessary levels of full-hearted public legitimacy.
Co-author Masakazu Toyoda, CEO of the Institute of Energy Economics of Japan and former Japanese chief climate negotiator in METI, said: 'The timing of the publication and dissemination of THE VITAL SPARK in the months before the next COP in Poland, could not be better. I and my Japanese co-authors believe strongly that our arguments on energy innovation will win the day, just as the arguments of the famous first Hartwell paper of 2010 won the day in the highest levels of international diplomacy after the collapse of the Kyoto Protocol model at Copenhagen in 2009."
LSE Emeritus Research Professor Gwythian Prins (pictured left) is the Hartwell group convenor. He said: “We can attain the objective of energy with low environmental impact only if we create a high energy global economy with reliable energy that all can afford to buy. The case for universal energy access is not just a moral one; it is also a matter of political legitimation and pragmatism. It is simply not acceptable to pursue policies that will leave the bottom billion of humanity without the energy services they require for wellbeing and dignity. This paper attempts to form a common foundation which will enable us to provide large quantities of energy at low cost, and with low environmental impact.”
Former LSE Research Fellow Mark Caine is the Hartwell co-ordinator. He said: “The Kyoto process failed to provide the greenhouse gas emissions reductions that it promised because it was unwieldy, complicated, and costly. It was built upon unrealistic assumptions about what nations are willing to or can accomplish, and it invested unfounded confidence in binding international legal agreements. It will not be easy to provide clean and affordable energy to all nations, but we believe these pragmatic Building Block concepts should underpin future attempts.”
Since the 1980’s scholars and practitioners of the Hartwell group have been researching pragmatic actions that might lighten the human footprint on the planet, and presenting them in policy-ready form. THE VITAL SPARK is the third paper by the Hartwell group. It offers a comprehensive prospectus for how to – and how not to – undertake the vital task of energy innovation and how to drive that agenda in domestic democratic politics, in innovation and invention, in business and in international diplomacy in coming years.
The Vital Spark: innovating clean and affordable energy for all can be downloaded from LSE Research Online here.
Emeritus Research Professor Gwythian Prins, (Hartwell Convenor) 07958 623715, email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.org
Mark Eliot Caine (Hartwell Co-ordinator) 07902 110738, email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.org
Jess Winterstein, LSE Press office, 020 7107 5025, email@example.com
For copies of the book, or of the PDF, please contact the LSE Press Office
The research programme within the Mackinder Programme at LSE, which made THE VITAL SPARK possible was generously funded, 2011-2013, by the Nathan Cummings Foundation of New York
The Hartwell group
The group’s first report, ‘The Hartwell Paper: a new direction in climate policy after the crash of 2009’, was published in May 2010 and became well known for the novelty of its approach to climate policy. The second report, ‘Climate Pragmatism’, was published in 2011.
‘THE VITAL SPARK: innovating clean and affordable energy for all’ is the third publication of the Hartwell Group.
Later in 2013, The Hartwell Approach to Climate Policy (eds M.E.Caine & S. Rayner) will be published by Earthscan, Oxford, collecting all the main Hartwell author papers since the 1980s into one volume.
The Co-authors of THE VITAL SPARK
Principal integrating writers
Gwythian Prins (Hartwell Convenor), Emeritus Research Professor, LSE and former Director, the Mackinder Programme for the Study of Long Wave Events, London School of Economics and Political Science, England
Mark Caine, (Hartwell Co-ordinator), International Policy Advisor, Royal Academy of
Engineering, London; formerly Research Fellow, the Mackinder Programme for the Study of Long Wave Events, London School of Economics and Political Science, England
The other co-authors:
Professor Keigo Akimoto, Group Leader, Systems Analysis Group, Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth, Japan
Professor Paulo Calmon, Centre for Advanced Studies in Government and Public Administration, University of Brasilia, Brazil
Dr John Constable, Director, Renewable Energy Foundation, England
Dr Enrico Deiaco, Director, Innovation and Global Meeting Places, Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis, Sweden & Affiliated Researcher, School of Industrial Engineering and Management, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
Martin Flack, Analyst, Innovation and Global Meeting Places, Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis, Sweden
Dr Isabel Galiana, Research Fellow, Department of Economics & GEC3, McGill University, Canada
Professor Reiner Grundmann, Professor of Science and Technology Studies, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham, England
Professor Frank Laird, Professor of International Relations, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver, USA
Dr Elizabeth Malone, Senior Research Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA
Yuhji Matsuo, Senior Economist, The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan
Dr Lawrence Pitt, Associate Director, Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, University of Victoria, Canada
Dr Mikael Roman, Counsellor, Scientific and Technical Affairs, Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis, Office of Science and Innovation, Embassy of Sweden, Brazil
Andrew Sleigh, Pinoak Innovation Consulting, England
Dr Amy Sopinka, Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, University of Victoria, Canada
Professor Nico Stehr, Karl Mannheim Chair for Cultural Studies, Zeppelin University, Germany
Dr Margaret Taylor, Project Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA
Hiroyuki Tezuka, General Manager, Climate Change Policy Group, JFE Steel Corporation (on behalf of Japan Iron and Steel Federation), Japan
Masakazu Toyoda, Chairman and CEO, The Institute for Energy Economics, Japan
11 July 2013