The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won't Save the Planet

Green electricity is key to curbing climate change, but while prices of solar and wind power have tumbled, the golden era of renewables has yet to materialize.

What if the problem is not that transitioning to renewables is too expensive, but that saving the planet is not sufficiently profitable?

In “The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won’t Save the Planet,” Brett Christophers argues that the global economy is moving too slowly toward sustainability because the return on green investment is too low.

He makes the case that markets and the private sector cannot be expected to solve the climate crisis while the profits that are their lifeblood remain unappetizing. But there is an alternative to providing surrogate green profits through subsidies, he writes: take energy out of the private sector's hands.

On Monday, October 21 from 4:00-6:00PM, join us for a hybrid event featuring Brett Christophers, Professor of Human Geography at Uppsala University’s Institute for Housing and Urban Research, on his book and why the market won’t solve the climate crisis.

This event is part of the Fall 2024 Global Economic Governance Book Talk series.

Host or Publisher Boston University Global Development Policy Center