Are we seeing the decline of green politics?
Part 3 of my interview with Panorama
It’s true that green parties and green policies have suffered in some countries and regions in recent years. The lesson to us all is that if green issues or sustainable development issues are seen as something on the side (I have a colleague who talks about it as being like the salad on the side, which everybody ignores) then as soon as as soon as we are struggling with issues that more directly affect our lives—maybe the cost of living, or cost of energy or access to healthcare—if that hasn't been connected to sustainability, then we're going to just sacrifice sustainability, because what we're concerned about is what affects our quality of life most directly.
So that's been partly a mistake of politics, but also of companies. I remember people during COVID saying, Isn't it terrible, companies are not focusing so much on sustainability because they're dealing with COVID. How is COVID not part of sustainability? Health is at the heart of sustainability. So we need to get the messaging right, and we need to connect it to people's lives and what they're really struggling with.
The way I talk about sustainability is, How do we move from breakdowns to breakthroughs? And that that applies at a personal level as well. What is breaking down in your life now? That may be your ability to get a job, to look after your family's health, to have have an unpolluted space to rejuvenate. There are different things that people are concerned about, and we have to connect the sustainability agenda to tackling those issues.
The reason, partly, that the Greens lost some ground (although they haven't gone away) is that some of the mainstream parties have integrated sustainability more. People want to support a party that is dealing with the mainstream issues, but they're a little bit reassured that that includes some sustainability.
Also we've had the rise of the right—often the far right parties, the conservative politics. And the reason for that is that people feel left behind. We know that we're going through a major transition. We're already in it. We're living in a very uncertain world full of crises, but we have to do this new industrial revolution, and some people just don't feel like their lives have gotten better as a result of these changes. And and if we don't bring everybody along, then they're going to turn against the thing that they think is causing the change.
The transition is inevitable, because things will get much, much worse unless we go through the transition, but that's why we talk about a socially just transition. All that means is bringing people along, making sure either that they're benefiting directly from that transition, or that if they're being negatively impacted, at least they get some help, they get some support to adapt and to be able to survive, if not, thrive, through that transition.
Dr Wayne Visser is holder of the Galp Chair and a Professor of Practice in Regenerative Business, Innovation and Technology at Católica Porto Business School, as well as a Fellow and Head Program Instructor at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership