Drake recommends committee to help economy flourish post-fossil fuels

Barbados needs to have a more extensive discussion on what the economy looks like in a post-fossil fuel world, Independent Senator Crystal Drakes has suggested.

As the Senate debated the Debt (Natural Disaster and Pandemic Deferment of Payment) (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill – which makes provisions to defer payments on parts of the national debt should a disaster or pandemic strike – she called for a more thorough debate on how economies might be able to thrive if fossil fuel consumption is drastically reduced.

While describing the Mia Mottley administration’s campaign for a fossil fuel-free economy by 2030 as commendable, Drakes said it was impossible to ignore the existing framework of economies that leverage the usage of fossil fuels.

“We have an economy, it has to grow within a finite planet, and we have not found a way that can sustain what we do now, without fossil fuels,” said the independent senator. “People would say we can do it through renewable energy, green energy, the green economy. What I would say to that is, unless businesses are incentivised in a way that makes them value environmental sustainability and social sustainability along with profitability, we will always convert to business as usual; profitability will always come first.”

Drakes highlighted that the fundamental foundation that supports consumption – and thus the economy, which is essential in any country’s plan to repay its existing debts – is still the use of fossil fuels, even at the micro level.

“A television just does not appear, it comes from somewhere,” she told the Senate. “The minerals, the metals, the glass, the plastics, the circuit board… everything has to come from somewhere. There are physical resources that go into building the TV. Once you have the parts, then you have to go on to assemble them. If it comes from China, most likely a coal-powered plant – more fossil fuels – then once it’s assembled it gets on a ship using heavy fuel oil. That ship takes a nice sojourn across the globe, continuing to burn fossil fuels then it lands on our shores,” she said.

“What we are doing essentially is saying to persons, when you buy that television, . . . to the retail sector, once they have sold over and above last year’s amount, the economy has done well, but at no point do we capture the environmental cost or the energy for that TV to get to your doorstep.”

The independent senator recommended the creation of a development committee of experts to help Barbados seriously push through with its green energy commitments while at the same time helping the economy to flourish.

“The bill before us I believe, yes, provides temporary financial solutions to a bigger problem that we face. I think based on what I have said today, we need a development committee that comprises physicists, ecologists, economists, [and] sociologists because what we are facing are social systems that are butting up against the laws of nature,” she said.

“We need experts that not only understand their field, but we need those experts to understand decisions that they make impact all of the other components of the system. We do not have a systemic understanding of how our society works, how nature works, and how we can plan for the future.”
(SB)