As the COP29 international climate change conference came to a close in late November, the latest storm to hit Britain, Storm Bert, was causing floods and huge damage to homes and communities. South Wales was particularly hard hit, with hundreds of homes left under water, roads turned into rivers and with reports of winds exceeding 80mph. Storm Bert came soon after the horrifying floods in the Spanish state, which have so far killed more than 200 people.
By Matt Kilsby
Despite the fact that the climate crisis is becoming an ever-present danger for billions of people across the globe, capitalist politicians have been trumpeting COP29 as a success. Writing in The Guardian, Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, wrote that the deal “could lead to emissions reductions that are the equivalent to removing the emissions of about 1 billion cars, as well as helping to protect up to 1 billion people in developing countries from the effects of floods, heatwaves and droughts caused by the climate crisis” and that COP29 was proof that “an unstoppable transition to clean energy is happening”.
However, with 2024 on track to set another new record for global carbon emissions and for the hottest year on record, Miliband is entirely deluded: emissions from coal, oil and gas are set to rise by 0.8% in 2024. But in order to keep to the 1.5°C global warming target set at COP21 in Paris in 2015, fossil fuel emissions will need to be cut by 43% by 2030. Basically, that target is dead in the water. This year, we are on track to see average temperatures pass 1.5°C for the first time as the world rushes headlong into potentially catastrophic global warming of more than 2°C.
Currently, global warming and pollution is killing millions of people every year across the world. In 2021, air pollution was responsible for 8.1 million deaths worldwide, which is more than 1 in 8 deaths globally. This makes air pollution the second leading risk factor for death worldwide, after high blood pressure and ahead of smoking and poor diet. Meanwhile, a January 2024 World Economic Forum report found that, by 2050, climate change, at current rates, may cause an additional 14.5 million deaths and $12.5 trillion in economic losses worldwide.
For the capitalists, profit comes first
Despite this catastrophic data and predictions, the capitalists and big business are rowing back on previous commitments to reduce their emissions and their impact on the environment. For example, although British Petroleum (BP) declared in 2020 that they intend to become ‘net zero’ by 2050, they have recently abandoned curbs on fossil fuel production in favour of targeting several new investments in oil projects in the Middle East and the Gulf of Mexico. And it isn’t just BP – many companies including Shell, Volkswagen and Unilever are also abandoning commitments to reduce emissions and pollution.
We understand that capitalism is fundamentally unable to resolve the climate crisis. Given the recent actions of companies such as BP, it isn’t even pretending to make an effort any more. Ultimately, profit and the national self-interest of the bosses will always be a bigger priority for capitalism than safeguarding the environment.
While he was writing in the 19th century, before the science around climate change and fossil fuels was at all developed, Karl Marx analysed the destructive impact of capitalism on nature and humans:
“[Capitalism] produces conditions that provoke an irreparable rift in the interdependent process of social metabolism, a metabolism prescribed by the natural laws of life itself. The result of this is a squandering of the vitality of the soil, which is carried by trade far beyond the bounds of a single country.”
From his point of view during the industrial revolution, Friedrich Engels was able to quickly realise the key problem that:
“…the individual capitalists, who dominate production and exchange, are able to concern themselves only with the most immediate useful effect of their actions. Indeed, even this useful effect — inasmuch as it is a question of the usefulness of the article that is produced or exchanged — retreats far into the background, and the sole incentive becomes the profit to be made on selling”.
Put simply, the capitalist prioritises selling and profit above everything else, because otherwise they will be knocked out of the competition and out of business.
Power-hungry tech companies
Capitalism’s destructive drive for profit is starkly portrayed by the inexorable increase of artificial intelligence (AI), which is now impossible to ignore online. Now, whenever a user carries out a Google search, an AI-generated summary of the results will appear at the top of the page. While its expansion is never ending, AI systems are much more resource- intensive than anything that has gone before, which has led to an era of hyper-consumption by the internet. It is an era defined by a new kind of computing that demands excessive amounts of electricity and water to build and operate.
In order to function, AI requires massive data centres that use huge amounts of electricity, most of which comes from burning fossil fuels. Similar to BP, Google had been striving to become carbon neutral, but earlier this year it announced that its emissions had risen by 50% in the last five years. According to projections from the International Energy Agency, electricity consumption from data centres and AI could reach double the levels of 2022 by 2026. As the report puts it, taken together with cryptocurrency, they are adding “at least one Sweden or one Germany” to global electricity demand.
These are the insane contradictions at the heart of the capitalist system, as its all-pervasive thirst for profit directly leads to exponential energy consumption and climate breakdown.
Imperialist conflict: A death sentence for the planet
But it is not just profit that leads to capitalism killing the planet and, as Socialist Alternative has pointed out previously, in the context of a global political, financial, and social crisis of capitalism, the world is entering a new era of inter-imperialist conflict. This conflict means more war, which isn’t just destructive of people but also of the environment.
If we look at the genocidal war on the Palestinian people, for example, 25,000 tonnes of bombs were dropped on Gaza in the first few weeks of the onslaught. The emissions from this would equate with the annual energy use of approximately 2,300 homes. Reports from Ukraine suggested the fighting there released some 100 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere in the first seven months of the war.
In Gaza, as in all war zones, buildings and infrastructure have been razed to the ground. And when Israel imposed a complete blockade on any fuel entering the strip, this led to more than 130,000 cubic metres of untreated sewage flowing into the Mediterranean Sea on a daily basis – itself a grave environmental hazard.
In addition, the world’s armies and military forces are entirely reliant on fossil fuels, using them to operate aircraft, tanks and weapons, which account for approximately 5.5% of global emissions.
War and imperialism run totally contrary to the needs of the planet. While different powers struggle against each other to carve up the world and shore up their own spheres of influence, any kind of serious joined- up, international action on the climate is ruled out.
Starmer government is no ally!
In this country, Starmer’s and Reeves’ first budget of the Labour government increased defence spending by £2.9 billion, with plans to increase the spending yet further in future budget rounds. At the same time as providing weapons and munitions for Ukraine, together with their election commitment to build more and more data centres, this government will go down as the least green in history.
It should also be remembered that the shameful prison sentences – of five and four years – recently handed out to Just Stop Oil activists took place under Labour’s watch, just after the General Election. While the sentences were made possible by the Boris Johnson government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, Starmer and his Labour government have remained silent because they have no interest in repealing it. The capitalist state is designed to uphold the status quo, even if that means defending the climate killers. This is the real reason why, in the face of increasing opposition and protest, the ruling class uses the state to stamp out collective action and protest by ordinary people.
Socialist revolution – not climate destruction
Capitalism means war, destruction of the climate and misery for the vast majority of us. Its prioritisation of profit above all else means there can be no hope that those currently in charge of this system can resolve the climate crisis. Instead, we need a complete revolution in how society is run, and how things are produced.
In other words, the only way to save the planet is the complete overthrow of this rotten system. That’s why Socialist Alternative calls for the building of a new climate movement that takes on the billionaires, rooted in schools, colleges and universities, as well as in the trade unions, to fight for a massive programme of investment in green energy, free public transport and green, affordable homes. The climate movement should also link up with the anti-war movement, because climate catastrophe cannot be ended without ending imperialist war. Both pose dire threats to working people everywhere.
We need to nationalise big business and the polluting companies. The actions of BP, Google, Shell, Volkswagen, etc show that we cannot control what we do not own. Instead, the fossil fuel companies, banks and other big corporations should be taken out of the hands of the profiteers and run democratically, based on the needs of ordinary people and the planet – not profit. On that basis, we could change production toward green, socially-useful goals, while protecting jobs and creating new ones, rather than war and climate destruction.
Capitalism is killing the planet. Fight for an international socialist alternative!
1. No time to lose
For massive public investment in services, housing and infrastructure to stop emissions and to protect us against climate related disasters. We need more, better & free public transport!
2. ‘Green capitalism’ is a lie – make the real polluters pay!
As a first step, tax the super-rich and corporations to invest in green technology, energy and jobs.
3. Protect land and resources from corporate and imperialist exploitation
Stop pipeline projects, deforestation and imperialist exploitation of natural resources while ensuring the needs and rights of Indigenous and other communities, as well as a job guarantee for all workers.
4. Strike together against the system – rebuild a fighting climate movement
Organise grassroots climate committees of students and workers. Activate your community, school, workplace and union from below, to build a coordinated movement of protests and strikes that paralyse the economy and force real changes.
5. Democratic socialist planning, not market chaos
A system based on profit and competition cannot be made work to save the planet. To quickly cut emissions while guaranteeing a decent life and future for all, it is necessary, as a first step, to take the biggest corporations into public ownership combined with international democratic socialist planning. After all, we can only control what we own.
6. Capitalism is destroying the planet, our jobs and livelihoods
With an overthrow of the current system of exploitation of humans and nature, it will be possible to create millions of well-paid sustainable jobs and build a new green economy. This is also a prerequisite to end wars and conflicts and give a real answer to people who are forced to flee from their homes as a result of the climate crises.
7. International workers’ solidarity instead of capitalist nationalist rivalry
No to the US-China conflict, which weaponises the climate crisis. Cancel all foreign debts and scrap
patents on green technology, as well as medical and pharmaceutical technology. Knowledge, skills and resources must be shared based on international workers’ solidarity and cooperation.
8. Change the world – fight for international socialism
To win the revolutionary change necessary to end capitalism, the destruction of our planet and all forms of oppression, join a revolutionary organisation – join International Socialist Alternative!
