Recipes for Systemic Change - Helsinki Design Lab

Climate change is the symptom of a problem; the byproduct of a marketfailure whose externalities will likely limit future growth. Unlike other problemsfaced by past societies such as war or famine, the invisible pathologyof climate change has also been the engine of global prosperity.Carbon emissions are our best metric of this failure. Evidence shows thatemissions have increased along with economic growth since the industrialrevolution. In the last two hundred years the global economy has grownsix-fold. This growth, and the unprecedented rate of convergence betweendeveloping and developed nations, reflects the tremendous momentumafforded by fossil-fueled growth. The expediency of transforming fossilsto energy continues to provide the base material of the built environmentand development worldwide.Given the conflict between this deeply embedded system of growth andthe urgency to reduce human impact on the earth’s ecological systems, thedefining challenge of this decade will be to decouple development fromcombustion.Economic growth, the built environment, municipal services, transportation,even agriculture, all rely on combustion, and our core systems ofvaluation require that the impacts of combustion be ignored. Thus, no individual,firm or government can transform the practices that drive growth—it will require an architecture of solutions and actors.The development of a widespread economic imperative for restrictingcarbon emissions seems unlikely in the near or medium terms. As wasdemonstrated during the Copenhagen Climate Conference, a global bindingpact on climate change will not happen soon. Enforcement is evenmore distant.Addressing this challenge is not just about protecting ecological systems:it is about creating an opportunity. In the coming decades, a newfrontier of competitiveness will open between nations—there will be buyersand sellers of the expertise, technology, and models that thrive in acarbon-restricted economy.With a decade of crises just behind us, and more on the horizon, thepolitical and economic climate appears too conflicted to shoulder this scaleof change. Yet signals from all sectors and most governments suggestthat we have reached an inflection point, one that signals the onset ofchange. While a formal agreement was not reached at Copenhagen, theevent revealed that the topic of climate change had now engaged not onlythe environmental ministries, but also heads of state.The stage is set for the evolution of environmental policies into comprehensiveeconomic and social transformations. For those who want to fostera productive natural environment, as well as ensure success in the impendingregulatory environment and emerging markets, the time to act is now.207