Climate Change Charades: False Environmental Pretences of Statist Energy Governance

Abstract

Climate change is a poor justification for energy statism, which consists of centralized government administration of energy supplies, sources, prices, generating facilities, production and conservation. Statist energy governance produces climate change charades: government actions taken in the name of climate change that bear little relationship to the nature of the problem. Such actions include incremental, unilateral steps to reduce domestic carbon emissions to arbitrary levels, and attempts to choose winners and losers in future technology, using public money to subsidize ineffective investments. These proffered solutions are counter-productive. Governments abdicate their responsibility to govern energy in a manner that is consistent with domestic legal norms and competitive markets, and make the development of environmental solutions less likely rather than more so.

Keywords: Climate change, energy, greenhouse gas reduction, environmental law, electricity, Kyoto Protocol, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, conservation, energy subsidies

JEL Classification: K23, K32