by 
Like
the
Marxist
dialectic,
or
the
predictions
of
the
Gospels,
the
green
movement
has
long
seen
its
triumph
as
preordained.
Yet
sometimes
the
inevitable
turns
out
to
be
not
so.
Over
the
past
few
years
green
policies
—
notably
the
drive
for
“net
zero”
—
have
been
failing.
Both
markets
and
politicians
have
seen
the
light.
What
Joe
Biden’s
treasury
secretary
Janet
Yellen
once
called
“the
greatest
business
opportunity
of
the
twenty-first
century”
has
revealed
itself
to
be
something
of
a
disaster.
The
new
American
President
is
likely
to
be
blamed
for
the
implosion
of
the
green
agenda,
but
its
collapse
long
pre-dates
his
re-ascension.
Well
before
November
the
opportunity
of
the
century
was
going
bust
—
not
least
because
the
policies
were
having
little
apparent
impact
on
the
actual
climate.
On
Wall
Street,
ESG-approved
(environment,
social
and
government)
stocks
have
been
tanking,
according
to
leading
studies,
shackling
firms
with
massive
losses.
Climate
activists
still
insist
that
Trump’s
departure
from
the
green
mantra
is
hubristic,
like
an
ostrich
sticking
its
head
in
the
ground
as
the
inevitable
climate
apocalypse
comes
closer.
But
many
voters
in
America
as
well
as
Europe
have
had
second
thoughts
about
spending
upwards
of
$6
trillion
annually
for
the
next
thirty
years
on
green
largesse.
It
doesn’t
help
that
these
spending
pledges
are
so
often
advocated
by
jet-setting
billionaires.
Well-funded
campaigners
will
continue
to
try
to
shield
Europe’s
environmental
policies
from
Trump,
but
this
is
not
a
passion
among
voters
on
either
side
of
the
Atlantic.
Most
people
don’t
want
to
huddle
in
smaller
dwelling
units,
enjoy
less
mobility,
more
costly
home
heating,
no
air-conditioning,
and
a
more
austere
diet.
Already
a
growing
economic
dislocation
—
such
as
the
energy-driven
decline
of
the
German
industrial
machine
—
is
sparking
opposition
to
green
policies
throughout
the
West,
first
expressed
by
the
gilets
jaunes
movement
in
France
in
2018,
now
spreading
further
across
an
increasingly
distressed
Europe.
Even
some
on
the
left
are
reconsidering
their
policy
agenda.
In
ultra
with-it
Berlin,
a
referendum
on
tighter
emissions
targets
recently
failed
to
win
over
enough
voters.
The
decline
of
the
greens
is
a
clear
sign
of
change.
Once
seen
by
Foreign
Affairs
as
“reshaping
global
politics,”
the
greens
have
suffered
devastating
defeats
across
Europe.
There
are
now
moves
to
boost
fossil
fuels
in
eastern
Europe
and
Japan.
Read
the
rest
of
this
piece:
View/download
PDF
file.
Joel
Kotkin
is
the
author
of
The
Coming
of
Neo-Feudalism:
A
Warning
to
the
Global
Middle
Class.
He
is
the
Roger
Hobbs
Presidential
Fellow
in
Urban
Futures
at
Chapman
University
and
and
directs
the
Center
for
Demographics
and
Policy
there.
He
is
Senior
Research
Fellow
at
the
Civitas
Institute
at
the
University
of
Texas
in
Austin.
Learn
more
at
joelkotkin.com
and
follow
him
on
Twitter
@joelkotkin.
Photo:
illustration
from
the
Spectator
Go to Source
Author: Joel Kotkin
