“But it’s difficult and takes time!” I hear you cry. Absolutely. Which is why we need to ensure the business case in the same way we ensure revenues for big projects, and get serious about shared ownership on projects already underway. The value on offer is enormous - not least for public support.

A recent piece from me on some of the challenges and opportunities, and making it work for lower income and working class communities too www.regen.co.uk/insights/com...

Cc: @georgemonbiot.bsky.social @ketanjoshi.co

Tl;dr - austerity/inequality erodes trust in gov and institutions > also drives far right support > if Labour won’t change course, the best counter is to unashamedly make decarbonisation work against austerity/inequality/declining living standards at its core (recognising most people still want it!)

So if a Global North govt chases the wish of retreating from the world, this is because they are deeply cynical, gravely misguided, or desperately afraid. It may work for an election, it may work for one short period of time, but global crises will eventually find you and the looks won’t be pretty.

The only way around it is to get serious about actually improving things for people. It’s not coming from government. That means a lot of work to be done by the rest of us in communities, work places etc to build capacity, take ownership and organise.

PS. None of this is to do down the immense work happening in the sector or the value that 'net zero' absolutely can deliver. But to do it in a way that brings people along, tackles injustices and makes lives better, we have to be prepared to recognise and challenge the failures of business-as-usual.

(More in an extended personal essay on this soon)

This will mean some uncomfortable conversations about who pays, owns, gets a say and to what end in all of this. But if we don't, I worry that we will ultimately seed alienation at best and resentment at worst (and leave a tonne of value untapped).