MY MEDIATOR colleague Crispin Chua told me a secret of his wealth. A Chinese-Filipino businessman, Crispin advised, “A peso saved is a peso earned.”
Did he pluck this advice from the many Chinese proverbs about money and personal finance? After all, these traditional values have helped propel the Chinese economy into becoming the world’s second largest economy in a matter of decades.
Well, no. Crispin’s wisdom came not from Chinese philosophers but from an American. Benjamin Franklin popularized the adage: “A penny saved is a penny earned.” This is one reason why being frugal is such an important aspect of wealth creation.
And now comes Citibank, the United States of America’s third-largest bank. The bank even wants to put the savings culture on steroids on a global scale.
Citi Global Perspectives & Solutions GPS published a 2015 report looking at the economic costs and benefits of a low-carbon future.
And well that Central Negros Electric Cooperative and other Negrense power cooperatives keep this in mind.
According to the Citibank report, the world can promote “Inaction,” which involves continuing on a business-as-usual path, using coal and fossil fuels to provide power to its subscribers.
Or choose a paradigm shift, into an “Action” scenario which involves transitioning to a low-carbon energy mix.
Business Insider, a fast-growing business site that focus on deep financial, media, tech, and other industry verticals, noted that “one of the most interesting findings in the report is that the investment costs for the two scenarios are almost identical.”
According to the website, “because of savings due to reduced fuel costs and increased energy efficiency, the Action scenario is actually a bit cheaper than the Inaction scenario.”
Looking at the potential total spend on energy over the next quarter century, on an undiscounted basis, the cost of following a low carbon route for the US is at $190.2 trillion is actually cheaper than the “Inaction” scenario at $192 trillion.
The future belongs to the rapidly falling costs of renewables such as solar energy. When combined with lower fuel usage from energy efficiency investments will down the road result in significantly lower long-term fuel bill.
Citibank proposes a timeline: invest more in the early years, but potentially save later, not to mention the liabilities of climate change that we potentially avoid.
Citibank’s conclusion soundly refutes the main argument against climate action: that it’s too expensive, with some contrarians even having gone so far as to claim that cutting carbon pollution will create an economic catastrophe.
To the contrary, the Citi report finds that these investments will save money, before even accounting for the tremendous savings from avoiding climate damage costs. The good news is that Negros Occidental is already primed to welcome the near future with its investments on solar power.
(bqsanc@yahoo.com)
