Good news: A green revolution is not expensive
Fear that it will be costly for consumers to address climate change is largely unfounded, a new modeling exercise conducted for the magazine New Scientist suggests.
Radical cuts to the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions will cause barely noticeable increases in the price of food, drink and most other goods by 2050, indicates a model developed by Cambridge researchers for the magazine New Scientist.
“These results show that the global project to fight climate change is doable … It’s not such a big ask as people are making out,” says Alex Bowen, a climate policy expert at the London School of Economics, according to the magazine.
At current prices, going low-carbon is forecast to add around five pence to the price of a loaf of bread or a pint of beer. The price of household appliances such as washing machines rises by a few pounds, New Scientist reports.
According to the model, overall food prices will increase by one percent, electronics by two percent, and electricity by 15 percent. However, it would be a lot more expensive to travel by air, unless a low-carbon alternative to jet fuel is found. A return flight from London to New York would jump from £350 to around £840 – or what corresponds to an increase of 140 percent.
