We want to open our Blog to invited guest bloggers, and we’re pleased to post below a first contribution from Alejandro Litovsky, who heads the Pathways to Scale programme with our friends at Volans.
You can also find Alejandro’s post on the Volans website, here.
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‘Radical’ is not the word that is most often used to describe the European Commission’s President, Jose Manuel Barroso. Over the last two years, his efforts to align European countries behind ambitious climate targets have run into the inevitable stalemate and compromise.
But as Barroso unveils his new ‘manifesto’, intended to win the support of the Parliament for the renewal of his mandate, he argues that “we need to start working now on a radical pathway to reach a far more sustainable Europe by 2020”, Reuters informs. Among the priorities unveiled in the ‘manifesto’ are de-carbonizing Europe’s electricity supply and transport sector, including maritime transport and aviation, as well as the development of clean and electric cars.
Barroso already has the support of the member states, but needs the support of the parliament in order to win a vote of approval. The parliament, argues Pete Harrison, has consistently taken a greener approach than the EU’s 27 heads of state during negotiations over the last two years over EU energy reform and measures to curb pollution from cars and industry.
While the Green party’s support is important for securing Barroso’s vote of approval, environmental campaigners have received Barroso’s exhortations with caution. Joris den Blanken of Greenpeace thinks that “many questions remain on how he is going to concretely put Europe’s economy on a sustainable pathway” as there is no plan to reduce Europe’s depletion of natural resources like forests and fish.
The important issue here whether the EU institutions can secure the outcomes that we need in terms of sustainable development. Barroso uses the language of ‘radical’ pathways to win the support of the greens, which is a prime example of the logic of electoral politics, which form the centrepiece of democratic systems. The short-term interests that govern 4-6 year electoral cycles represent perhaps the most important way in which democracy hinders sustainable development.
Even if Barroso is re-elected, the critical question will be how, precisely, will he manage to deliver? A greener parliament is, sadly, no guarantor of the long-term outcomes that are needed. The role of actors such as Greenpeace is essential to keep long-term interests on the table, but by no means are non-governmental campaign groups enough. If real progress is to be made, democratic systems need to be able to support the long-term goals of sustainability; and that is a difficult task when the systems are built around short-term negotiations. Transparency plays a key role, but new proposals are needed for how democratic institutions can enhance the voice of those concerned with a sustainable future.
Voice to the pioneers
As Volans works to help the future take flight, a key question for us is how to turn the volume up on the policy voice of pioneers. It is no news that their privileged access to politicians and policy-makers provides established carbon-intensive industries with a powerful policy influence. This lobbying has a significant negative effect on democracy and on sustainable development; as not all voices are heard equally behind closed doors. Accelerating Europe’s transition to a low-carbon economy will therefore not only require bold strategies by governments, but also levels of political vision that go well beyond politics-as-usual, and the ‘lobbying-as-usual’.
Most pioneers have have few agenda-setting resources and their policy ‘needs’ are well below the radar of the average law-maker. One example of how business pioneers are getting creative when it comes to amplifying their voice is the UK lobbying campaign ‘We Support Solar’ , which resemble the advocacy strategies used by social movements, yet are driven by innovative companies such as Solarcentury. More of these alliances are needed to exploit the creative tensions between democracy, politics and sustainable development.
Barroso’s proposals include improving the energy interconnection between Europe and its neighbors, not least to guarantee Europe’s energy security. Here, technologies such as Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) could offer large-scale wins –even if they remain embryonic today, and creating and communicating the vision and knowledge of their ‘pathways to scale’ is essential.
As the EU parliament considers the support for Barroso’s next term, concrete ideas are needed on how his ‘radical pathways’ could be achieved. For example, in charting the way to increased inter-connection with its neighbours, the EU needs to engage more directly with African energy pioneers, such as New Energy Algeria, who are gearing up to supply renewable energy to the EU on a large-scale, and understand and learn from what it will take to make that a reality. The companies and investors betting on renewable energy markets have an important role to play in helping the EU to become more nimble and effective as it carves a low-carbon future for itself.
