Most environmental and social policies are ineffective

New Scientist says it bluntly, but truthfully:

Most climate policies aren't effective

I have been suggesting for many years now that, instead of enacting policies that are entirely focussed on cutting emissions of those gasses thought to contribute to climate change, we should be clear exactly what outcomes we wish to see, and then reward the people who do actually achieve those outcomes. Instead we have an array of divisive, expensive policies, such as subsidising the substitution of one type of car for another, that have done nothing to affect the climate. Even in their own terms - cutting greenhouse gas emissions - they have failed in their ostensible purpose:

 

'Climate activism became a big public cause about halfway along this graph. Notice any effect?' From Riding the Climate Toboggan, John Michael Greer, 6 September

If we were serious about tackling climate change we'd first answer the fundamental question: do we want to stop the climate changing, or do we want to mitigate adverse events caused by the climate? Then we'd admit that, while we don't really know how best to achieve either of these outcomes, we do know that a multitude of diverse, adaptive approaches will be required. Then we'd put in place incentives for people to research, experiment, refine and then implement these approaches, terminate those that are ineffective, and invest in those that are most promising. 

The problem is a wider one in the public sector: we do not express policy goals in terms of broad outcomes that are meaningful to ordinary people. Instead we put resources into existing institutions, which have their own agendas, top of which is usually self-perpetuation. These agendas may have little to do with the institutions' stated purpose, still less to do with bringing about meaningful improvements in environmental and societal well-being.

So we end up with the climate change bandwaggon, on which hordes of well-meaning, hard-working (for the most part), people are working in bodies whose finance depends on their carrying out specified activities, rather than actually improving the environment or society's well-being. Companies in the private sector - those that operate in a competitive market - don't have that luxury. When they fail, they go out of business. A Social Policy Bond approach, applied to the climate or to other goals, would impose such discipline on organisations that work in the public sector. Achieve what society wants you to achieve, and be rewarded. Fail and you disappear. It's not as harsh as it sounds, as everyone ultimately depends on our environmental and social policies being effective.