The Clean Industrial Revolution

From time to time we hear some pish-posh about reducing greenhouse pollution damaging the economy. Generally, there are helpful people who show such claims to be clearly false. Ben McNeil goes one step further in his book The Clean Industrial Revolution, saying that it would harm the economy if we don't reduce pollution.


He puts forward a compelling and well-researched case - saying the question for Australia isn't 'can we cut emissions without hurting economic growth' but instead 'can we grow our economy without cutting emissions'. (His conclusion is 'no')

One example of economic benefit is the comparison of New South Wales and Denmark. Coal in NSW provides 90% of the energy, but only 11,000 jobs. Denmark has a slightly smaller population, and wind power is just 20% of the energy, yet it gives 20,000 people a job.