5
THE POLITICS OF GREEN
TRANSFORMATIONS IN
CAPITALISM
Peter Newell
Introduction: from transitions to transformation
The ‘Great transformation’ – the ecological conversion of industrial societies
into a climate compatible, resource-conserving and sustainable world
economic order, requires far-reaching and manifold tasks to shape it, which,
in their make-up, are neither purely scientific and technological nor purely
social or political. The transformation process should lead to just and
sustainable governance over the use and management of global, regional and
local commons.
(Heinrich Böll Foundation, 2013)
Talk of great transformations is back in vogue. Though in some circles it never
went away, of course, human-induced climate change, in particular, is at the
epicentre of renewed attention to the need for (another) ‘great transformation’ amid
calls for a new, or third, ‘low carbon’ industrial revolution, new models of ‘green
growth’ (NEF, 2010; UNEP, 2011; OECD, 2011) or a ‘green deal’ (Lipietz, 2013).
The point of departure for such calls is the requirement for disruptive change in
the form of radical reductions in emissions and large-scale technological
breakthroughs as part of the pressing need for transition to a low- carbon economy
(WBGU, 2011; Heinrich Böll Foundation, 2013). For this reason there is increasing
interest in historical precedents of deliberate, large-scale orchestrated change in the
face of crisis (of the sort called for in the quote above), of when concrete strategies
for moving from one sociotechnical system and set of practices to another have
been successfully deployed that might offer relevant parallels to grappling with the
contemporary climate crisis.
It is around this twin sense of transformation both as historical process and
contemporary challenge that this chapter seeks to enlighten current discussions about
the politics and possibilities of change with historical lessons about how, when and
DOI: 10.4324/9781315747378-5
THE POLITICS OF GREEN
TRANSFORMATIONS IN
CAPITALISM
Peter Newell
Introduction: from transitions to transformation
The ‘Great transformation’ – the ecological conversion of industrial societies
into a climate compatible, resource-conserving and sustainable world
economic order, requires far-reaching and manifold tasks to shape it, which,
in their make-up, are neither purely scientific and technological nor purely
social or political. The transformation process should lead to just and
sustainable governance over the use and management of global, regional and
local commons.
(Heinrich Böll Foundation, 2013)
Talk of great transformations is back in vogue. Though in some circles it never
went away, of course, human-induced climate change, in particular, is at the
epicentre of renewed attention to the need for (another) ‘great transformation’ amid
calls for a new, or third, ‘low carbon’ industrial revolution, new models of ‘green
growth’ (NEF, 2010; UNEP, 2011; OECD, 2011) or a ‘green deal’ (Lipietz, 2013).
The point of departure for such calls is the requirement for disruptive change in
the form of radical reductions in emissions and large-scale technological
breakthroughs as part of the pressing need for transition to a low- carbon economy
(WBGU, 2011; Heinrich Böll Foundation, 2013). For this reason there is increasing
interest in historical precedents of deliberate, large-scale orchestrated change in the
face of crisis (of the sort called for in the quote above), of when concrete strategies
for moving from one sociotechnical system and set of practices to another have
been successfully deployed that might offer relevant parallels to grappling with the
contemporary climate crisis.
It is around this twin sense of transformation both as historical process and
contemporary challenge that this chapter seeks to enlighten current discussions about
the politics and possibilities of change with historical lessons about how, when and
DOI: 10.4324/9781315747378-5