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The pandemic has laid bare the fragility of the UK鈥檚 economy, health and public realm. Around 22 per cent of the UK population found themselves in a position of poverty last year, with our most disadvantaged pupils and their teachers coping with a 鈥渄igital divide.鈥� Ethnic minority groups are suffering more in both the heath and economic spheres.

These systemic shortcomings require multiple, sustained, and directed forms of innovation. The notion of the state as intervening only to 鈥渇ix markets鈥� becomes untenable when the market failure is so all-encompassing. Meanwhile, the climate emergency鈥攁nother enormous 鈥渕arket failure鈥濃�攊s not running far behind; indeed they are painfully linked. Covid-19 is a direct consequence of environmental degradation, with one National Institutes of Health study dubbing it 鈥渢he disease of the Anthropocene.鈥�

To create an economy that is resilient against incoming crises, the promised green industrial revolution in the UK needs to extend far beyond the 鈥渄eus ex machina鈥� of clean technologies. Whilst these are vital, they form only part of the whole. A greener way of life should be grounded in equality and the 鈥渇oundational economy鈥濃�攐f carers, health workers, teachers, food retailers, logistics, and emergency services. These 鈥渒ey workers鈥� are not only relatively poorly paid, but forced to take the greatest risks in times of emergency.

A pandemic social contract that recognises the sacrifices of these groups is overdue. As we come up against the triple threat of the healthcare crisis, the economic emergency and the unfolding climate crisis, workers鈥� groups of all types should have a genuine involvement in shaping the green jobs agenda. The framework of the 鈥渏ust transition鈥濃�攊n which there are specific re-training routes developed for workers in polluting industries鈥攕hould be a guide for the UK鈥檚 green industrial revolution.

The UK鈥檚 responses to the pandemic could only be as good as the organisations that we already had in place. This is where long-term, iterative innovation in its widest sense is needed鈥攐rganisational, institutional, logistical鈥攊n training workforces as much as manipulating molecules; in rewiring corporate governance as well as installing smart energy.

The public sector can choose to be a hive for such innovation. Government has at its fingertips a raft of tools鈥攆rom taxes, to challenge prizes, to procurement, grants, and sending market signals via regulation. In June, our team at the 果冻影院 Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) advocated for governments to create a jobs guarantee, with above-average pay, for those in Covid-vulnerable and climate-vulnerable sectors.

Investing in any form of innovation is a gamble鈥攕ome new innovations succeed, but many do not. Governments and business investors need to be ready to take a portfolio approach, investing in multiple potential alternatives and along the innovation chain鈥攆rom basic research, through to the development of new products and services, and into full deployment and operationalisation. It was the long-term, underlying research already completed on mRNA that enabled us to have vaccine projects launched within days of the pandemic鈥檚 declaration.

And underpinning all this, we need investment. Finance is not neutral; the successes of investments is contingent on the characteristics of the finance behind them. Stimulus is being pumped into the economy at a level of magnitude that will have a long-term impact, and will tilt the market in one direction or another. We have called for green innovation and employee payroll retention conditions to be placed on companies applying for government assistance to encourage this direction to be green. The Bank of England can also play a key role in a green transition by shifting finance away from unsustainable sectors via its monetary policy operations and financial regulation. This applies to Covid, to climate change, and to the wider nature-related risks we must look to innovate towards in the future.

This article originally appeared in on 26 January 2021.

Links

• Original article in
• Martha McPherson鈥檚 academic profile
• 果冻影院 Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
• 果冻影院 Faculty of the Built Environment
• Climate Change