Nicholas Beuret

Climate capitalism won’t save us To assume 'green capitalism' is more progressive than its fossil opposition would be a critical mistake.

Both fossil capitalism & green capitalism face the same problem of decline & economic stagnation

And both are taking an authoritarian turn

"One burns the planet openly; the other does so behind a curtain of innovation and inclusion"

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This dynamic underpins the conflicts of contemporary green geopolitics

"To put it bluntly...contemporary polyaligned countries want something qualitatively different: a larger slice of the pie on the way to a green capitalist future"

@iliasalami.bsky.social | t.co/iucBhdTQ2I

Nimbys Are Good, Actually | Novara Media Opposition to the government's pro-business agenda is being cast as small-minded Nimbyism. Behind the claims is a battle for a democratic development plan that works for people, not profit, argues Nic...

What's missing from Monbiot's account is the connection to anti-NIMBY laws, making investment safe for green investors and housing developers. Greenwich is one of the last growth frontiers, and NIMBYs have to be criminalised to make it safe for investors

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But this doesn't make it less dangerous.

As Renton suggests, "Trump isn’t a fascist yet...But the distance between him and fascism has narrowed to such a fine point that it would take very little to cross it"

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Palestine Action isn’t a danger to British democracy – but this repressive government is | George Monbiot With their illiberal attitudes and ever more draconian use of technology to crack down on protest, it is ministers who now imperil our rights, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

@georgemonbiot.bsky.social maps out what's happening here, but his analysis could apply to any state in the Global North.

But hidden behind the endless headlines are a series of Ls for Trump, Modi, Starmer and co. The current authoritarianism is brittle

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Decline is the feeling that's left after economic growth. Stagnation is the context for all politics now. As climate impacts mount, stagnation will turn into a downward spiral. Authoritarianism is about securing some of whats left for a chosen few.

@meadwaj.bsky.social

The global authoritarian turn comes *after* the failures of the populist Left, and, distinct, from prev right turns, the failure of the climate movement.

Decline, including ecological decline, is what powers the rights repressive and punitive turn.

Or Something Worse Or Something Worse exposes the bleak realities of the transition to a carbon-neutral economy. Greening the economy has become a one-sided war, as governments and businesses squeeze the living standard...

📢 Coming soon! 🎉

Or Something Worse: Why We Need to Disrupt the Climate Transition

👉 Our 23 Sept | Pre-orders @versobooks.bsky.social

Or Something Worse exposes the bleak realities of the climate economy, and shows how we can win the war of transition

tinyurl.com/cc4ptp4e

Or Something Worse Or Something Worse exposes the bleak realities of the transition to a carbon-neutral economy. Greening the economy has become a one-sided war, as governments and businesses squeeze the living standard...

This is the reality of the Transition Economy I set out in my book, 'Or Something Worse', out in Sept

www.versobooks.com/en-gb/produc...

The reality of the Transition Economy is admist overcapacity in every single industry, govts have to bribe companies to not close down

"Tegu...had been in negotiations to buy the site but had asked the govt to underwrite £5mn of financing for the deal"

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Spanish blackout sparks disinformation The culprit for Monday’s countrywide blackout in Spain is all too familiar: privatisation and profiteering.

It’s important bc the blackout was used by climate deniers to claim renewable energy was inherently a problem, and that we need gas or nukes. But ofc that was wrong - what we need is socialised power

@theecologist.org

theecologist.org/2025/may/01/...

When I wrote about the Spanish blackouts, I pointed out that the fault wasn’t w renewable energy but w the more general state of the grid caused by profit seeking.

It turns out the trigger was shoddy maintenance processes with conventional thermal energy stations.

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There are also 200,000 HGV (lorry) drivers - with current shortages - and 100,000 bus and coach drivers. While some of the current lorry driver shortage could be met with autonomous HGVs, the risk posed to 600,000 driver jobs, and the supply chains that support them, is huge

There are approx 300,000 taxi and private hire drivers in Britain, presumably who will start to lose their jobs. This includes 100,000 Uber drivers - the partner organisation for this trial.

Using the US industry as a base, creating this many jobs means putting **200,000** self-driving cars on British roads

"Alexander claimed the autonomous vehicle industry could create 38,000 new jobs and add £42bn to the UK economy by 2035."

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Climate capitalism won’t save us To assume 'green capitalism' is more progressive than its fossil opposition would be a critical mistake.

'The digital economy is not post-material; it is hyper-material': Dreams of a tech-driven green capitalism are turning out to be a nightmare.
@nicholasbeuret.bsky.social & Peter Bloom

"The rise of authoritarian populism presents a real threat. But so too does the soft and supposedly progressive authoritarianism of green capitalism. Both offer versions of control: one through denial, the other through technocratic pacification"

Climate capitalism won’t save us To assume 'green capitalism' is more progressive than its fossil opposition would be a critical mistake.

Peter and I have a new piece up on @theecologist.org

We can’t assume that green capitalism is opposed to the incipit of fascism of the MAGA milieu. Both are pushing authoritarianism as a solution to capital’s problems.

theecologist.org/2025/jun/09/...

Anti-green rhetoric, like anti-migrant rhetoric, makes for good headlines but will fracture the MAGA/Reform base. Just as care homes struggle to recruit, green SMEs will collapse bc of their campaigns

So you are stuck being both for and against the transition. Hence political contradictions such as Reforms anti-net zero stance.

Reform is anti net zero, but in their plan to block green projects in Lincolnshire puts 12,000 jobs at risk.

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Any additional cost, from inflation to new green regs to climate impacts, and your business goes under. So you might have a business installing solar panels, but also hate regs that force you to buy a new electric van, pay a net zero consultant, etc

The most anti net-zero / 'green crap' demographic is also the one that is building the transition in the Global North. The paradox is that it is, as a business sector, also the most exposed and precarious.

One of my main points in "Or Something Worse" is that the green economy isn't a manufacturing economy in the Global North, its an installation one

This means it's working base is in the small business sector - petit bourgeois essentially

This is the MAGA and Reform base

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Climate change is now so bad, and inflation so baked-in, that the market for catastrophe bonds is expected to grow dramatically.

CAT bonds enable insurers to transfer the risk of disasters onto investors willing to go high risk/high return in a world of permanent stagnation

It also makes work harder - heat, pollution, disruption. Care work will be more in demand, harder and workers will have their own problems to deal with.

The Labour party is declaring war on our ability to adapt and manage as a society *dependent on migration*

This includes the vast care industry - one that systematically undervalues and underpays care workers. The work of care will intensify with climate change. Climate impacts will make mental and physical health worse, and intensify the needs of the most vulnerable

The green transition can look a lot like men talking and worrying about other men. But heavy industry isn't all there is to 'work'. Not only are many of the most important industry dominated by women, women also do the vast majority of unwaged reproductive work

What we find in discussions of the transition is a political emphasis on men and what they stand to gain or lose, making the legitimacy of the green transition party to broader misogynistic questions of the ‘decline of men’.

Care worker recruitment from abroad to end, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper says Up to 50,000 fewer lower-skilled workers will come to the UK under new measures aimed at tackling net migration, the home secretary says.

This is the 2nd example of how right wing politics will mean we suffer more from climate impacts, and are less able to adapt. Trump's war on migration was the 1st

The need for care, and the gendered burden of care, will only intensify with climate change

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"In Greater Lincolnshire, net zero industries contribute about £980m to the local economy, accounting for 12,209 jobs, according to analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU)."