Is Economics in ESD?

It continues to surprise me that economics is not being considered as part of education for sustainability. After all it was always in the various diagrams used to show sustainability.
If we continue to hope that some outdoor activities, a ‘switch the lights off’ campaign, and a ‘walk to school bus’ will do it then read this blog below. A change is coming with divestment but there is a long way to go.

Sonny Masero, Interim Managing Director at Mace Construction put it this way in his blog on LinkedIn;

“So here is the crux. If we accept 3 degrees of global warming and the disastrous climate change that will be the result, then we can burn 96% of the coal, oil & gas reserves that exist today. If the Paris Agreement holds and 2 degrees is our limit, then 41% can be burnt. For 1.5 degrees, which is the ideal, then only 16% can be used. That could leave 84% of coal, oil and gas reserves as stranded assets. That’s $900bn of financial resistance to much-needed climate policy. The share prices of coal companies already reflect this future. Oil & gas company shares are starting to follow suit – those who are most at risk appear to be Rosneft, ExxonMobil, PetroChina and BP. All oil & gas companies will face an increasing cost of capital that will change how they can invest. In the face of this need to transition to a low carbon economy, what percentage of their total capital expenditure is going into low carbon businesses? Not even 1%.”

As ever sustainability and the climate crisis is about us as human beings. It’s not just our actions but the systems we have created that are slow to change. This should be a part of all education for the actions and activities we encourage children and students to take. Otherwise we are not giving them context and only giving them half the story.

Ann Finlayson