The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), widely regarded as the leading think tank for science and technology policy, has released a press release and a report saying that forcing organizations and countries around the globe to adopt clean energy policies will fail unless clean energy sources "are at price and performance parity (P3) with the dirty technologies that need to be replaced."
“Without the P3 framework, clean energy policies will be futile,” said ITIF President Robert D. Atkinson, who co-authored the report. “The only effective way to tackle climate change is to acknowledge economic and political realities and by adopting a policy framework that uses them to our advantage.”
The report says government policies worldwide have arisen from viewing climate change as a “climate crisis” and “emergency,” leading them to "a force-first approach, bribing, mandating, and coercing corporations, individuals, and other governments to change their behavior." Also, "governments are trying to do everything everywhere all at once, without considering costs, tradeoffs, or effectiveness," the report says.
For climate change policies to work, the ITIF believes that price and performance should be the driving factors to activate market power as the catalyst for renewable energy rather than demanding that companies cut back on energy use through mandates, the report says.
A sound climate change policy should be universal in nature and be led by an approach in which consumers all across the world can afford products such as electric vehicles, the report concludes.
"Recognize the growth imperative," the press release says. "When countries are forced to choose between green and growth, they will always choose growth, productivity, and lower costs... Wind and solar are price-competitive in some regions with fossil energy, but only when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining. Parity would require that renewables meet the price and reliability of fossil fuels, and not just for eight hours a day."
