28/11/2021
Green investment as a path to economic recovery.
Solving environmental problems is, first of all, a profitable investment, primarily in our own citizens.
The problem of ecology, which for a long time remained on the periphery of public discussion around the world, finally began to come to the fore. Abnormally warm winters made think about climate change even big skeptics. Problems with landfills from small local conflicts have reached the level of mass protests that mobilize more people than corruption scandals.
Meanwhile, scientists in the world have been studying the relationship between ecology and economics for a long time. Moreover, both in terms of the impact of economic development on nature, and in terms of economic losses from environmental problems.
In 2018, William Nordhaus received the Nobel Prize in Economics for developing a numerical model that studies the mutual influence of climate change and the long-term development of the world economy. For example his model provides an opportunity to assess how economic measures such as the introduction of carbon taxes or carbon emission quotas affect climate change and economic growth.
The use of accurate numerical models is essential, as any such measure has both benefits and costs. Their effectiveness can be assessed only by comparing the positive impact on the environment with the economic losses from their implementation. After all, a thoughtless crusade to save nature can bring humanity no less harm than ignoring environmental problems.
At the same time, there are already successful stories when large-scale state campaigns helped to significantly improve the environmental situation in the country and at the same time their costs turned out to be noticeably lower than the benefits received.
For example, in the United States, the adoption of the Clean Air Act and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 led to significant improvements in air quality in the country. And a recent review of scientific research showed that the benefits of this program were many times greater than the costs.
The reduction of harmful impurities in the air has led to a significant improvement in the health of the population, especially children and the elderly, who are most sensitive to the state of the environment. But at the same time, the positive effect is not limited to the actual health indicators. Improved air quality has had a positive impact on property prices, labor productivity and educational outcomes for schoolchildren, and has even led to a decrease in crime. At the same time, the numerical estimates of these effects are also impressive, only the increase in real estate value is estimated at $ 45 billion, and the introduction of the sulfur dioxide emissions trading system in 1990 had a long-term effect of reducing mortality, which is estimated at $ 134 billion annually with a program cost of only $ 3 billion. in year.
It is good news that environmental issues have finally come to the fore.
But the approach to solving environmental issues at public and private level will be much more serious and systematic if it comes to the realization of investment companies and the entire peaceful community that this is not just another social obligation of the state, which has to spend additional money, but the responsibilities of each person will be taken care of about the future of their descendants and the entire planet Earth.
Solving environmental problems is, first of all, a profitable investment and, above all, the most valuable economic resource that countries have, and such investments cannot be denied.
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