The Economist October 1st 2022
action? And why comply with onerous rules if you don’t have to? avoiding the cost of decarbonising by paying lip-service to green
Firms, too, are discovering that speaking out has repercus-
sions. In 2019 the Business Roundtable, a group of corporate big-
wigs, said that the objective of a company should be to benefit its
stakeholders. Jamie Dimon, the boss of JPMorgan Chase who
was then the group’s chairman, has now taken to denying that he
is “woke”. Unilever, a consumer-goods firm, has cast itself as a
sustainability icon, but its shareholder returns have lagged far
behind those of its rival, Nestlé. On September 26th Unilever’s
boss, in only his fourth year in the job, announced plans to step
down (see Business section).
The esg dream was that capital markets would penalise those
firms that ignored the looming costs of climate change on their
businesses. But in practice the costs are too uncertain and dis-
tant to play a big part in firms’ or investors’ financial calculus.
Most companies can win the gains of appearing green while
Rebellion in Iran
Is this time different?
If the protests gather momentum, there is no knowing how they will end
T he most poetic scenes are sometimes the most powerful. A
young woman dances in front of a bonfire, then tosses her
headscarf into the flames. A lone old lady, her white hair uncov-
ered, shuffles down the street waving her headscarf in tune to
the words “Death to Khamenei!” Such acts of defiance against
Iran’s supreme leader and his regime, prompted nearly a fort-
night ago by the murder of a young woman arrested by the “mo-
rality police” for not covering all her hair, have spread to dozens
of Iranian cities. They mark the most menacing threat to the aya-
tollahs’ dictatorial rule for many years.
Revolutions are often sparked by individual acts of courage.
Witness the self-immolation of a vegetable-seller in Tunis that
started the wave of rebellions that raced across the Arab world in
2011. Several times in the past dozen or so years Iranians have
erupted against their regime, only for huge de-
monstrations to fizzle out under the lash of a
well-practised system of repression. Might this
time be different?
It is impossible to predict, as Iran is closed to
the world’s press. Anger is certainly more wide-
spread than ever before. The unrest has drawn
in young and old. It has encompassed Iranians
from every corner of the country, including
Kurds and other minorities. So far it is women who have shown
the most exhilarating bravery. But if Iran’s men weigh in with
equal valour, the removal of a vile system, though still unlikely
in the short run, may no longer be inconceivable.
The dominant part played by women in the protests is new.
Another difference is that the demands are more drastic. Young
people, connected to their contemporaries elsewhere on social
media, are chafing more furiously than ever under the rule of
grey-bearded clerics. Since 2012 income per head has stagnated,
leaving legions of Iran’s 85m-plus people destitute. Inflation has
soared. The environment has palpably suffered. Rivers have run
dry. Farmland is parched. For many Iranians the only path to a
decent life is emigration.
And the regime is more rotten than ever. It is keen to blame


Leaders 13
goals. According to Climate Action 100+, a group of investors,
more than two-thirds of the world’s 166 biggest greenhouse-gas
emitters have promised to reach net zero by 2050 or sooner. But
less than a fifth have medium-term targets; a similarly low share
have set out quantified decarbonisation strategies.
No shortcuts
It falls to governments to reconcile the goals of profit maximisa-
tion and a safer climate. The best way of doing this is to set a high
enough price on carbon, forcing companies to internalise the
costs of their dirty activities, so that going green is also good for
the bottom line. Mandated standards and disclosures must be
brought in more quickly, to help firms assess their exposure to
higher carbon prices. Companies can help save the planet—but
only if doing so is good for business. 
Iran’s ills on foreigners. For sure, American-led sanctions have
deepened the economic distress, but the chief perpetrator of the
people’s poverty is the regime itself. Under its corrupt theocracy
swathes of the economy are controlled by military men and aya-
tollahs whose policies, even at the best of times, seem designed
to scare off foreign investors. Hardliners dominate Iran’s parlia-
ment, and most relatively reform-minded politicians have been
barred from running in elections.
Moreover, after decades of aggressive foreign policy, Iran is
isolated. It backs militias in Iraq and Lebanon and brutal leaders
in Syria and Yemen. It menaces the Gulf states. And it persists
with nuclear plans that terrify Israel and unnerve the region. Re-
cent efforts to revive the un-backed deal that curbed Iran’s nuc-
lear programme look doomed. While protests continue, Presi-
dent Joe Biden would be unwise to re-engage
with the regime or risk seeming to offer the aya-
tollahs a lifeline.
To be candid, there is little the West can do to
encourage the rebellion, especially at a time of
turmoil elsewhere in the world. Sanctions have
weakened the regime, but have plainly failed to
bring it down. Enough of Iran’s oil leaks into
countries that care nothing for human rights,
particularly China, which has long been a buttress of Iran’s econ-
omy. The most vital help that Western governments can give to
Iran’s brave resisters is to ensure that sanctions do not bar them
from access to internet services or to tools such as vpns that help
them evade censorship and surveillance.
It will be up to Iranians to get rid of their rotten regime. So far
the protests have been spontaneous and disorganised. No po-
tential leader has emerged. More than a decade after the opposi-
tion Green Movement was suppressed, its champions remain
muzzled. Real change may yet come from within the ranks of
disgruntled clerics, though that scenario has often failed to ma-
terialise. This latest revolt may eventually fade, as previous ones
did. But one day Iranians will cast off not just their veils but also
their joyless overlords. It cannot come too soon. 