Green or Dirty, Innovative or Exploitative? Elon Musk’s Paradox

Op-Ed

Idolised by many for popularising and enabling vital leaps forward in green technologies, yet responsible for expanding the polluting production of cryptocurrencies, Elon Musk is a man of environmental contrasts. How much leeway we are prepared to give Musk on this crucial subject will likely reflect the levels of accountability we, as consumers and policymakers, are prepared to attach to entrepreneurs globally, causing wider implications for the health of our planet.

Transportation accounted for 16.2% of global greenhouse emissions in 2016 (chart above), so Musk could be doing the world a massive favour by popularising and slashing prices of electric, and therefore greener, cars. He certainly is doing governments around the world an enormous favour, as Boris Johnson, Justin Trudeau, Joe Biden, and other key leaders come under increasing pressure to fulfill their ambitious, yet distant, climate targets. Encouragingly, governments seem to have latched onto the potential of Musk’s green innovation much quicker than would happen under the usual bureaucracy, with many putting it at the heart of their climate strategy.

However, a cynic may argue this is merely Western leaders opting for the easiest, no-sacrifice climate solution. The overwhelming bulk of electric car emissions can simply be swept under the rug, while the manufacturing process takes place in some distant country, where politicians and world leaders can either escape or ignore their responsibility.

So how green are these renewable technologies? The answer is unfortunately not so simple.

Here we can see electric cars are not necessarily the panacea sometimes claimed. Their eco-friendliness is largely dependent on their energy source, and even renewable energy sources often require polluting and damaging processes to extract scarce materials, such as solar panels and their reliance on indium. Regrettably, Musk is making car travel more convenient and ethical, which is economically brilliant and could be beneficial to an extent environmentally, but it hinders the more sustainable solution, which is to reduce the number and/or use of cars, which might sound frightening, but it is certainly possible in towns and cities across developed countries. The Netherlands, Germany, and other countries are leading the way on this.

The efficiency and foresight of town planning in Germany and the Netherlands is particularly remarkable, as the authorities have made the decision to prioritise cyclists, pedestrians, and public transport users: all at the cost of car drivers.

Humans will almost always naturally act in self-interest; cycling and other sustainable transport solutions, like walking and using public transport, have recently become more convenient and cheaper, so the results were inevitable. In one survey, 36% of Dutch people listed the bicycle as their most frequent way of getting around on a typical day and 11% on public transport, which is almost a majority of respondents using alternative modes of travel to cars! It is even more common in cities, such as Zwolle, where 47% most commonly cycle, 19% walk, and only 32% drive. Cutting traffic would certainly result in a lot less stress, improved health from cycling culture, reduced road deaths, and improved air quality. In addition, the necessary demand for the job-creating car industry is maintained (chart below), whilst still reducing their destructive production cycle.

The chart shows living a greener life in The Netherlands has not caused the car industry to suffer any great deal as one might expect.

But perhaps it is important to not be too harsh on Musk for our transport issues, for he is merely filling a demand that we are supplying: one that is becoming marginally greener too. So whilst greener transport is likely never going to be completely green and it may be a short-term fix, Musk’s entrepreneurialism could inspire future green innovation in the energy and transport sector. Only time will tell if economies of scale will emerge from Musk-inspired mass production, for which he would redeem himself as green.

Though to complicate matters further, Musk’s heavy investment in cryptocurrencies (which normally involve a lot of electricity to “mine”) could cause an increase in carbon emissions. Although, it is not all doom and gloom; benefits of these cryptocurrencies include less corruption than central banks (cryptocurrency is decentralised so a single person cannot corrupt the process), greater privacy (transactions are untraceable), and even ordinary people can invest in it. However, given the environmental focus, it’s also important to note that Musk has since denounced more polluting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (wasted energy seen below) and Ethereum, in favour of mining-free cryptocurrencies like Cardano.

When considering Musk’s character, it is also worth noting his concerning track record on workers’ rights. A company of the future, Tesla, has taken some unfortunate steps back into the past on workers’ rights. Despite Musk’s claims of improvements in the last few years, and that he is not a "greedy capitalist", it is difficult to trust Musk over thousands of allegations filed by workers, accusing Tesla of punishing attempts to unionize, firing workers who went into COVID isolation (due to legitimate concerns over the increase in cases connected to its factories), and gruelling working conditions. Given the fact the electric car industry is so young, Tesla has been able to secure a monopoly for the most part, leaving workers few alternative companies to work for. Though there appears to be little denial nor justification from Musk on this, Musk has tried to inspire other competitors to cut out the middlemen at car dealerships and sell more directly to the consumer, creating potential for rival companies of the future to entice consumers with lower prices, grow, and be able to offer workers in the industry more competitive working conditions. However, this has been undone by car dealerships lobbying the government to restrict this entrepreneurial spirit. Overall, workers are definitely being exploited, but glimmers of hope that he has pathed the way for just as innovative, but less exploitative competitors to take over the baton.

Elon Musk is a man of stark contrasts when it comes to the environment, ranging from a green entrepreneur and technological trailblazer, to a misleading marketer of ‘green’ energy and an investor in polluting currencies. Equally, in terms of workers’ rights, he is alleged to have pushed employees to breaking point, yet gives workers healthcare and has reduced workplace accidents significantly. For all his apparent noble intentions, Musk has contradicted this message several times in favour of profit, but has also backed up these intentions with the actions of a business genius. To simplify, it is fair to say Musk is both green and dirty, innovative and exploitative.