L R AS Published on Saturday 25 April 2020 - n° 319 - Categories:the prices
The photovoltaic commentary of pvXchange
Should a parallel be drawn between coronavirus and climate change? The only fundamental difference is the way they are treated. To contain the pandemic, political authorities are imposing measures that are becoming more and more drastic by the day. For the climate crisis, only spontaneous change is advocated, the main thing is to keep the economy going and not to make any serious changes!
Because of the confinement, the population has noticed a change in their living conditions: less traffic on the roads and in the air, more holidays in their own country, recourse to local products for daily consumption. The population appreciates this less stressful life.
Thus, the coronavirus has changed society in a way that a youth movement "Friday for the Future" had failed to do.
Will we learn from the current crisis and take the right measures? It should be noted that restrictive measures may have been imposed and seemed unthinkable before. Yet the consequences of climate change and air and water pollution are already far more deadly than a viral infection will ever be. Only the big difference is that it happens far away and goes almost unnoticed. A large part of the population in the rich industrialised countries does not seem to be affected.
We are witnessing a demonstration of the fragility of our economic system and how quickly it can be disrupted by an unexpected event. This provokes an irrational reaction from people and markets. Nobody seemed prepared for such a crisis. Panic and chaos are understandable; after all, our jobs, our consumption, our social contacts - in short, our very freedom and prosperity - are probably at stake!
Hopefully, the world will make a real new start after the pandemic and we will not completely revert to old behaviour and our resource-destroying way of life. To restore stability to our system, we need to make even greater adjustments - we are now facing the challenge of radically transforming our economic system. Resilience also applies to ecosystems. It describes the ability to overcome disturbances and difficult life situations without lasting damage. It is something that is clearly lacking in our system.
At the moment, there still does not seem to be the political will to enforce what is right and necessary, but only what meets with broad consensus. Once this crisis is over, many restrictions should of course be lifted. What should remain, however, is an awareness of the imminent threat of climate change.
The pandemic has a much greater positive impact on global CO2 emissions than a whole year's worth of Friday demonstrations and the political work of the environmental movement combined - let's make the most of it!
pvXchange of 18 April
Editor's note This is a political commentary, more than an analysis of the photovoltaic market. It makes no reference to reality. The latter is imagined and even fantasised in favour of an ideal, but without any connection with the real capacities of the economy with the characteristics of the production tools.
