Governments need to be more hardheaded.There is a crucial role for an activist state in supporting the construction of key infrastructure, such as transmission lines, and in research and development.But the overwhelming priority must be to catalyse a bigger surge in private investment, in two ways.First, by easing planning rules.The average global mining project takes 16 years to get approval;the typical wind project in America over a decade to get lease approvals and permits, which is one reason why its offshore-wind capacity is less than 1% of Europe’s.Speed requires centralised decision-making, and will often mean disappointing local NIMBYs and conservationists.Second, governments can help companies and investors deal with risks.They can provide certainty in some areas: for example, by guaranteeing minimum prices for power generation.Western governments also have a duty to provide cheap financing to lift investment in poorer countries.But the key is the introduction of carbon prices which embed market signals into millions of everyday commercial decisions and give entrepreneurs and investors more visibility over a long-term horizon.Today only 22% of the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions are covered by pricing schemes, and those schemes are not joined up.
