Seven Elements That Have Changed the World Read Free Page B

workers rather than enslave them, and protect ecosystems rather than destroy them. The law does this by prohibiting the use of force, compelling people to act within defined boundaries. Among other things, the good laws create a marketplace, founded on mutual consent, and thereby align self-interest with the interests of all involved. They place a harness on greed, directing its force to the service of humanity.
    In most cases, the law takes effect through regulations, which, at their most basic level, prohibit activities that are harmful to society. Society forbids the use of iron swords for murder or the use of slaves in the pursuit of gold. But often what is needed requires a more complex construction. Our use of carbon energy to raise the living standards of billions has come about hand in hand with the loss of human life and pollution of our land, air and water. Effective regulation requires a balancing act between providing the energy needed for economic development and minimising the harm to people and the environment.
    Today, it is most difficult, and indeed most important, to achieve this balance in making regulations to reduce the risk of climate change. Governments have to think carefully about how they design the rules of the game; they cannot simply forbid the use of carbon fuels. Developed economies would crash and developing economies would stand still. Rather, they must design mechanisms that direct self-interest towards reducing energyuse, decarbonising energy production and capturing carbon. The theoretical ideal is a global carbon tax that forces polluters to take account of the damage caused by carbon dioxide. In practice, international and domestic politics make that impossible and so we must make do with a complex collection of subsidies, regulations, taxes and carbon pricing. It is a messy and inefficient process, but it is society’s way of curbing carbon’s potentially destructive potential. I am optimistic that it will work eventually.
    Intelligent regulation not only protects citizens and the environment but also companies. For example, bad practice, by a few operators, in the way in which wells were completed to produce gas from shale led to problems that gave the industry a bad name. Regulation must prevent the few from damaging the many as well as encourage competition. Only when the powerful grip of Standard Oil was removed with its dissolution in 1911 could other US oil companies begin to thrive. Regulation was used to restrain the greed of Standard Oil while fostering the aspirations of smaller market players. I saw a similar situation in Russia in the 1990s, where bribes, threats and fraud were the norm in business. The legal system had been twisted by a powerful few for their own benefit. There were many rules, but they were applied selectively in the interests of those with political power.
    There remain many other countries in which society is left stranded as the apparatus of the state turns a blind eye to, or, worse still, is complicit in, the destructive extraction of the elements. Africa is the home of vast and untapped resource wealth, yet much of that revenue is vulnerable to corruption, and ends up in the pockets of the elite. As I look back, it is clear to me that the most powerful force for change in those countries is to push governments, by applying International pressure, to disclose payments from resource development and their general expenditures. That would allow citizens to hold them to account. And it would compel change in the enforcement of internal laws designed to prevent corruption.
    Through my involvement in the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative I have seen how the bright light of transparency can ensure that oil wealth reaches the hands of the citizens to whom it belongs. Across the world of business, transparency is becoming less of an option. More instant and extensive communication enables citizens and NGOs toobserve almost every activity of a