Why Will Governments Never Solve The Climate Crisis? || Acharya Prashant at IIM-Bangalore (2025)

Acharya Prashant

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00:00Threats that were supposed to be in the future have come in the present almost.

00:03Climate change which threatens our very survival.

00:05Do you see any role of public policy of the government?

00:08Ours is a democratic system.

00:09I'm talking to somebody in flesh and blood.

00:11You are the government, right?

00:12If you all collectively declare that you absolutely hold the colour black sacred,

00:19and a vote seeker comes here, you'll find him in black.

00:22He follows what you like.

00:24If you want to accelerate climate devastation, it will be accelerated.

00:28Who can stop it?

00:29Typically an old man.

00:30How will he resist the combined might of the electorate?

00:33The colossal power of mass ignorance.

00:37The government, the leaders, the vote seekers, they follow the electorate.

00:42They mislead the electorate, we know.

00:43They condition the electorate, we know.

00:45They corrupt the electorate, we know.

00:47But ultimately they follow the decision of the electorate, the mood of the electorate.

00:51How can any leader resist that, even if he wants to?

00:54They don't want to, but even if he wants to.

00:55How can we do that?

00:56How can we do that?

00:57How can we do that?

00:58Namaste Acharya Ji.

01:00My question is about anxieties regarding the future, wherein the threats that were supposed

01:07to be in the future have come in the present almost AI, which challenges our purpose as humans

01:13because it can do everything better than us, and climate change, which threatens our very

01:18survival, and with the decline in the traditional institutions that could provide us solace.

01:24How does an individual cope with these anxieties, and further, what can we as a community, as societies, do?

01:34Do you see any role of public policy of the government in this?

01:39Government is a concept.

01:42Government is a term.

01:43It's a concept.

01:45You are the government.

01:46Government.

01:47I'm talking to somebody in flesh and blood.

01:49You are the government, right?

01:52Ours is a democratic system.

01:56You form the government.

01:57You don't choose.

01:59You don't just choose.

02:00You form the government.

02:02You are the government.

02:05You are the policy.

02:08I won't even say you choose the policy makers.

02:11You are the policy.

02:14Everything will be as you are.

02:21If we remain enslaved for long centuries, that had something to do with the way we had

02:26unfortunately become.

02:30It all begins within.

02:32So, there is nothing that public policy can do in it.

02:39There is nothing that governments are going to do.

02:41Paris Agreement.

02:42What happened of that?

02:49We were talking in terms of a 45% reduction in emissions by 2030.

02:57Instead of minus 45% we are up 2.5%.

03:04We are talking of net zero by 2050.

03:14As things are, we will be plus 25 by 2050.

03:25Even plus 2.5 will be fatal.

03:34And all the leaders got together and there were the national deliverables that were decided

03:43upon.

03:44What happened of that?

03:45Nothing.

03:46Because the leaders will come back and they'll see if we implement these things.

03:49This fellow is not going to vote for me.

03:51You sir, you.

03:54It all comes at a cost.

04:00If you set up industries that are carbon neutral or carbon negative.

04:09That requires the taxpayers money to be spent in a different way.

04:18Is the taxpayer game for that?

04:20Will we allow that to happen?

04:28The government, the leaders, the vote seekers, they follow the electorate.

04:38They mislead the electorate, we know.

04:40They condition the electorate, we know.

04:42They corrupt the electorate, we know.

04:43And ultimately, they follow the decision of the electorate, the mood of the electorate.

04:58If you all collectively declare that you absolutely hold the color black sacred, and a vote seeker

05:07comes here, you will find him in black.

05:13He follows what you like.

05:18He does what you want him to do.

05:19Obviously, he does manipulate you.

05:23But even after all the manipulation, he stands behind you.

05:29You lead him.

05:31You lead your leaders.

05:35So all real change can happen only at the level of the individual.

05:43And once it happens there, it takes no time for governments to toe the line.

05:51But if the electorate remains as it is, if that's the individual, the individual remains

05:56as she is, and you go and you petition the government, what will come of it?

06:04The Paris Agreement will go down in history as a burning testament to the futility of governmental

06:13action.

06:14And you can keep having summits after summits, unless the population itself is sensitized.

06:21After all the Paris Agreements, you will have people like Trump who will just junk the agreement.

06:26It is the second time in a row he has opted out of Paris.

06:32And who voted him to power?

06:34The army?

06:35It was a coup?

06:38What happened there?

06:40It was a democratic process and he got duly laid.

06:48And he is saying, we will make America great again and there is gold under our feet.

06:51We will dig out all the hydrocarbons, the gas, the oil, we will not only burn these things,

06:57we will actively export them.

07:02If we can make dollars out of our natural resources, why shouldn't we?

07:06We will make America great again.

07:08America first.

07:15And if he says America first, Russia, Russia first, China first, all concepts of nationalism

07:22will then be aroused.

07:30The Paris Agreement said, let's look at the entire planet, not as nationalities, but as

07:40human beings.

07:43But are you prepared to look at the entire planet, not from your little perspective, I belong

07:52to, I belong to UP, I belong to Tamil Nadu or I'm Indian or I'm an American.

07:56UP first, Tamil Nadu first, India first, America first.

08:02As long as we are not prepared to have a macro perspective, how will governmental action happen?

08:11People elected Trump, don't forget it.

08:15And they rejoice at his policies.

08:21He is cutting down, he has already cut down the subsidies that were being given to the EVs,

08:31the EV industry.

08:33So that petrol and diesel and gas regain their supremacy as fuels.

08:51And will initiate mining and exploration in Alaska.

09:01You understand how fragile that ecosystem is, Alaska?

09:05And they are saying, we will blast through the ice and dig out the minerals to help with

09:14the glaciers.

09:19And he's an old man, it's just that a lot of young men, a fat lot of young men support

09:26him.

09:2834 crore Americans, at least 17 crore of them support him.

09:38What can any government do?

09:40When so many people want something, it will happen.

09:45If you want to accelerate climate devastation, it will be accelerated, who can stop it?

09:51A leader is just a poor person, typically an old man.

09:57How will he resist the combined might of the elite?

10:01Colossal power of mass ignorance.

10:07How can any leader resist that?

10:09Even if he wants to, they don't want to.

10:11But even if he wants to.

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