From about the 1950s there was notable progress. People saw more wealth, and welfare, life expectancy increased, infant mortality dropped and access to food, water, energy, transport and communications improved. These changes resulted in the greatest level of material well-being ever experienced. But it came at a cost.
The old way of doing things is no more. The economic, political and business models tailored to the experience of the 20th century are no longer appropriate in the 21st century. The last century was predicated on using fossil fuels, mass production, mechanisation and centralisation. This can involve fundamentally embracing new technologies, new business models and new kinds of relationships between the state, market and civil society, with a focus on sustainability. These are both exciting and uneasy times because uncertainty and complexity come with these shifts. In a country that has high inequality, social values become important, particularly those related to energy and affordability. The social costs must not be separated from the technological choices.
There is also ideological and cognitive lock-in that is stuck in the past, and these are the more difficult parts of the transitions to change.
The important recognition is that the just energy transitions are not an end in themselves, but rather are meant to transform the whole of society, where injustices of past economic systems are overturned. In this way a wider participation of the new low carbon economy is enabled, benefits are broadened and capacities are developed.
We are now undergoing major changes towards a system that includes a digital and green technologies revolution based on sustainability issues. Some have said that these changes are happening much faster than society can adapt. To move with the changing times, we need to have the ability not only to absorb the ecological and social costs from the past such as the consequences of climate change but also forge ahead with a new world.
Externalities that include, for example, worsening environmental degradation, air quality and acid mine drainage.