What long-term stagnation of global economy means for climate change

The global economy has been trapped in a state of relative stagnation in rates of growth, productivity, investment, and profitability since at least the 2008 financial crisis

The financial shock the UK has recently suffered is of course bad for green investment. The Rishi Sunak-led government is also likely to use this crisis to push for further public spending cuts that will rule out a truly transformative green agenda.

However, in my recent academic paper I argue that the economic obstacles to effective decarbonisation are more deeply entrenched than that. We can’t simply blame a bad government budget or even the global market turmoil sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Instead, the global economy has been trapped in a state of relative stagnation