Kyoto Protocol Adoption Is Market Signal; are Capitalists Paying Attention?


Kevin Sweeney pulls back the curtain in this Salon essay (via SciAm Observations):

"Nearly every nation on earth has ratified the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty proposing action on climate change. The key exception is the United States, where political fears and alliances ended any serious discussions before they began. If we view this issue not through a political lens, but a commercial one, some of our fears may shift.

The Kyoto Protocol isn't merely a political document -- it's the equivalent of market research. Viewing the protocol from this perspective, we see that most of the world's nations believe climate change is real and urgent and are attempting to do something about it. That allows the commercially inclined among us to move on to the wonderfully crass questions about what products we might sell them. We start to ask: Whose appliances will the world buy? Whose fuel cells and photovoltaic panels? Whose light bulbs? Whose cars?

This basic market intelligence may be the single most important key to thriving in a new economy. There is money to be made here -- lots of it. There are jobs here -- lots of them. This is Silicon Valley 2.0. We thrived with the information revolution, developing computers and software to change how the world works and plays. We can thrive again with a clean energy revolution, changing the way the world finds power for electricity and transport. But we can only thrive if we lead, if we take action now."

I am betting Sweeney is correct. In fact, I've been stuffing my retirement account with investments in companies developing clean energy technologies that will continue to grow and thrive into the future, whether led by companies in the USA or not. (Assuming we're not hit by a meteorite and all wiped out, or some other calamity overtakes us. Then, of course, all bets are off.)


Posted: Tue - April 4, 2006 at 11:24 PM          

©