Green Economics Threatens to Bury Us All: Debunking the Illusions of the Eco-Elite, By James Reed and Brian Simpson
In the relentless push for "Green" economics, cloaked in virtuous rhetoric about saving the planet, lies a dangerous illusion that's already failing spectacularly, even by its own metrics. From a conservative vantage point, this isn't just misguided policy; it's a top-down assault on free markets, individual prosperity, and national sovereignty that risks burying ordinary people under mountains of debt, regulatory red tape, and economic stagnation. Proponents promised a harmonious blend of environmental salvation and booming growth, but the reality is a house of cards collapsing under its own weight, imperilling everything from pensions to industrial heartlands. Here we dismantle the myths, drawing on fresh evidence that exposes the fraud.
At its core, Green economics peddles the fantasy that heavy-handed government interventions, like the EU's Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), rolled out in 2021, can steer trillions toward "sustainable" investments without harming returns or the broader economy. The pitch: Mandate disclosures on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, and watch capital flood into Green funds, slashing emissions while fuelling innovation. But a damning study from researchers at Stanford, Harvard, Amsterdam universities, and London Business School lays bare the failure. They found SFDR "had not meaningfully improved funds' Green credentials in terms of carbon emissions or on other measures, nor had [they] boosted fund flows to green funds." In plain English: No drop in portfolio-weighted carbon emissions, no uplift in environmental ratings from LSEG or Morningstar's carbon risk scores, and zero acceleration in emission reductions. The policy didn't even shift investor money toward so-called "light Green" (Article 8) or "dark Green" (Article 9) funds, despite the hype.
The numbers are telling. As of late last year, there were 12,000 Article 8 funds managing €6.5 trillion, 1,000 Article 9 funds with €317 billion, and another 12,000 non-green (Article 6) funds holding €4.8 trillion. Yet, investor confusion over these arbitrary categories — light Green? Dark Green? — meant the regulation achieved zilch in redirecting capital. As the researchers bluntly put it: "The introduction of the SFDR did not result in higher flows into either light or dark Green mutual funds, nor did it materially alter the sustainability of their portfolios." This isn't minor tweaking gone awry; it's proof that Green mandates are bureaucratic mirages, generating "regulatory fatigue" while imposing staggering costs: €500 million in one-off implementation and €246 million annually. Who's footing that bill? You, through higher fees and diluted returns on investments, including pensions.
And here's where the threat turns personal: Our pensions are on the line. Conservative principles hold that retirement savings should be stewarded responsibly, invested in proven, productive assets — not funnelled into virtue-signalling schemes that underperform. Yet Green economics has dragooned pension funds into ESG plays, promising "risk-adjusted" gains from the "transition" to net zero. The result? Europe's flagship green policies have epitomised the bloc's industrial decline and economic torpor, with alliances like those touted at COP26 — $130 trillion in assets aligned under figures like Rishi Sunak and Mark Carney — now in tatters. Carney, once Bank of England governor and now (in a twist of irony) Prime Minister of Canada, boasted of rewiring the financial system's "plumbing" to put climate at the "centre of every financial decision." But investors simply didn't care, opting for real returns over eco-fantasies. The upshot: Pension pots exposed to volatile "Green" assets that haven't delivered, leaving retirees vulnerable to shortfalls as Europe lags behind freer economies.
This isn't just EU folly; it's a global contagion. Net zero goals, the holy grail of Green economics, are critiqued as illusory because they demand impossible trade-offs: Shutter reliable energy sources like coal and gas for intermittent wind and solar, subsidise unproven tech, and regulate industries into oblivion — all while claiming it'll spark a "Green jobs" boom. Reality check: Germany's Energiewende has led to deindustrialisation, with factories fleeing to cheaper, less regulated shores. In the U.S., similar pushes under the Inflation Reduction Act have ballooned deficits without denting global emissions (China's coal plants alone dwarf Western cuts). And don't get us started on the greenwashing epidemic — the investment industry's dirty secret, where funds slap on ESG labels to attract capital but deliver no tangible environmental wins, as the SFDR study exposes.
From a conservative lens, this is the ultimate debunking: Green economics violates core tenets of limited government, free enterprise, and fiscal prudence. It empowers unelected bureaucrats and elite alliances to pick winners and losers, distorting markets and punishing the working class with higher energy bills, lost jobs, and eroded savings. The illusion of "sustainable growth" crumbles when policies fail even on their own terms — no emission cuts, no investment surges, just costs and complexity. As one expert noted, the effort is "disproportionate" to the impact, fuelling inefficiency and scepticism.
If we don't reverse course, Green economics will bury us all — not under rising seas (another exaggerated scare), but under economic ruin. Conservatives must champion real solutions: Unleash innovation through deregulation, prioritise energy independence via all-of-the-above sources (including nuclear and fossils), and protect pensions by ditching mandatory ESG. The planet's fine; it's our freedoms and finances that are endangered. Time to wake up from the Green dream before it becomes a nightmare. Or, more of a nightmare than it already is.
