Climate Action: Economists Write Open Letter Protesting Pollution From Carbon, Fossil Fuels

To rebuild our world, we must end the carbon economy.

Letter from economists

Over a hundred economists from different parts of the United States have collaborated to sign a petition calling for the replacement of the use of Fossil fuels globally, targeting the Carbon and Oil and Gas industries.

The letter insists that Governments worldwide must actively phase out the fossil fuel industry.

“Bailouts and subsidies to big oil, gas and coal companies only further delay the essential energy transition, distorting markets while locking us into a future we cannot afford. Instead, a coordinated phaseout of exploration for and extraction of carbon resources allows governments to redeploy funds towards green technology, infrastructure, social programs and good jobs, spurring an economic transition that benefits people and the planet”, the Economists opined.

Some of the highly reputable signatories include Jeffrey Sachs, Joseph Stiglitz, Mariana Mazzucato, Clair Brown, Indivar Dutta-Gupta, Robert Reich, Gabriel Zucman and others.

Read Full Letter Here:

The carbon economy amplifies racial, social and economic inequities, creating a system that is fundamentally incompatible with a stable future

From deep-rooted racism to the Covid-19 pandemic, from extreme inequality to ecological collapse, our world is facing dire and deeply interconnected emergencies. But as much as the present moment painfully underscores the weaknesses of our economic system, it also gives us the rare opportunity to reimagine it. As we seek to rebuild our world, we can and must end the carbon economy.

Even as climate breakdown looms around the corner, the pressure to return to the old carbon-based economy is real – and all the more dangerous, given the fundamental instability of an economy rooted in injustice. Sources of large-scale human suffering, such as crop failures, water shortages, rising tides, wildfires, severe weather, forced migration and pandemics, go hand-in-hand with a warming world. For example, exposure to airborne pollution heightens the risk of complications from diseases like Covid-19, and deforestation and rising temperatures make the emergence of future infectious diseases more likely. When these consequences manifest, it is no accident that they are disproportionately felt by communities of color, low-income communities, the most vulnerable nations and peoples, and other historically marginalized groups.

It is Black people in America, for instance, who bear some of the highest rates of exposure to polluted air. The carbon economy amplifies and begets racial, social and economic inequities, creating a system that is fundamentally incompatible with a stable future. If we fail to act now, the present moment may merely be a preview of what is to come, as we are forced into ever-more-painful situations and tradeoffs. It is naive, moreover, to imagine that we can simply nudge the fossil fuel industry – an industry that has lied about climate change for decades, actively opposed serious climate solutions and continues to plan for a fossil fuel-dependent future – into good behavior.

This moment creates an opportunity to bring about a better future for ourselves and our children
Instead, we should recognize that the present moment creates an opportunity to bring about a better future for ourselves and our children. By taking on the carbon economy, we can begin charting a pathway towards economic recovery while building a fairer, more sustainable world in the process.

Governments must actively phase out the fossil fuel industry. Bailouts and subsidies to big oil, gas and coal companies only further delay the essential energy transition, distorting markets while locking us into a future we cannot afford. Instead, a coordinated phaseout of exploration for and extraction of carbon resources allows governments to redeploy funds towards green technology, infrastructure, social programs and good jobs, spurring an economic transition that benefits people and the planet.

Institutions of financial power must end their fossil fuel investments and funding. When our largest banks, most influential investors and most prestigious universities place bets on the success of the fossil fuel industry, they provide it with the economic and social capital necessary to maintain the dangerous status quo. Instead, these institutions should divest from fossil fuel companies and end financing of their continued operations while reinvesting those resources in a just and stable future.

People must build political power to advocate for a fairer economic system. If we attempt an economic rebuilding whose guiding principle is a return to “business as usual” we will simply substitute one crisis for another. Instead, we must recognize that when crises strike, the disaster amplifies along society’s fault lines, and that when we don’t prepare for disasters, the costs of inaction fall most heavily on the most vulnerable. A green recovery can and must uplift those who need it most, at home and around the world, creating a more resilient and regenerative society in the process.

By achieving a large-scale economic transformation that dismantles the carbon economy and brings about a greener world, we have an opportunity to begin the process of economic recovery while working to undo the injustices at the heart of our modern system. As the undersigned experts in economics, we call on our policymakers to recognize the role that meaningful climate action has to play in rebuilding our world – to recognize that a healthy economy and society require a healthy planet.

See Signatories Here:

Joseph E. Stiglitz, Columbia University
Gabriel Zucman, University of California, Berkeley
Robert B. Reich, University of California, Berkeley
Dani Rodrik, Harvard University
Mariana Mazzucato, UCL
Jeffrey D. Sachs, Columbia University
Darrick Hamilton, The Ohio State University
Gernot Wagner, New York University
Erik Brynjolfsson, Stanford University
Emmanuel Saez, University of California, Berkeley
Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Ann Pettifor, Policy Research in Macroeconomics
Michael Ash, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, John Jay College – CUNY
Douglas Almond, Columbia University
Stephen A. Marglin, Harvard University
Clair Brown, University of California, Berkeley
Juliet Schor, Boston College
Jonathan Isham, Middlebury College
José-Antonio Espín-Sánchez, Yale University
Thomas Herndon, Loyola Marymount University
Indivar Dutta-Gupta, Georgetown University
Elliott Sclar, Columbia University
Monique Morrissey, Economic Policy Institute
Arthur MacEwan, University of Massachusetts Boston
Henry M. Levin, Columbia University
David Barkin, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana
Chris Tilly, University of California, Los Angeles
Deepankar Basu, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Thomas Michl, Colgate University
Nancy Folbre, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Herbert Gintis, Santa Fe Institute
Hans Despain, Nichols College
Peter H. Bent, Trinity College
Gautam Sethi, Bard College
Jeffrey Shrader, Columbia University
Margaret C. Levenstein, University of Michigan
Steven Hail, University of Adelaide
Raj Patel, The University of Texas at Austin
Steve Keen, UCL
Hendrik Van den Berg, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Massachusetts Amherst
John Miller, Wheaton College
Amanda Novello, The Century Foundation
Mar Reguant, Northwestern University
Imraan Valodia, Wits University
Mary A. Taft, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Fabrizio Zilibotti, Yale University
Gerald Epstein, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Pavlina R. Tcherneva, Bard College and Levy Economics Institute
Stephanie Kelton, Stony Brook University
Lawrence Mishel, Economic Policy Institute
Brad DeLong, University of California, Berkeley
Kathy Zilch, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Sunanda Sen, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Richard D. Wolff, The New School
Tim Jackson, University of Surrey
Gregor Semieniuk, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Jason Hickel, Goldsmiths, University of London
Fadhel Kaboub, Denison University and Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity
Anders Fremstad, Colorado State University
L. Randall Wray, Bard College and Levy Economics Institute
Nina Eichacker, University of Rhode Island
Larry Allen, Lamar University
Elissa Braunstein, Colorado State University
Bogdan Prokopovych, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Ramaa Vasudevan, Colorado State University
Mark Paul, New College of Florida
Yeva Nersisyan, Franklin and Marshall College
Michael Carlos Best, Columbia University
Erik K. Olsen, University of Missouri Kansas City
Kimberly Oremus, University of Delaware
Tracy Mott, University of Denver
Eban Goodstein, Bard College
Eileen Appelbaum, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Mark Campanale, Carbon Tracker Initiative
Carol E. Heim, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Timothy Koechlin, Vassar College
William Mitchell, University of Newcastle
Akhil Rao, Middlebury College
Andrew Fieldhouse, Middlebury College
Peter Hans Matthews, Middlebury College
Richard Parker, Harvard University
Shouvik Chakraborty, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Jay Hamilton, John Jay College – CUNY
Gerald Friedman, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Matthew Johnson, Duke University
Kate Raworth, Oxford University
Markus Wissen, Berlin School of Economics and Law
William Lazonick, The Academic-Industry Research Network
Bryan Snyder, Bentley University
Tilman Altenburg, German Development Institute
Yavuz Yaşar, University of Denver
Sarah Jacobson, Williams College
Mary C. King, Portland State University
Lawrence P. King, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Rob Larson, Tacoma Community College
Mark Witte, Northwestern University
Wendy Carlin, UCL
Geoff Schneider, Bucknell University
Thomas Masterson, Levy Economics Institute
Julia Cagé, Sciences Po Paris
Jacqueline Klopp, Columbia University
Howard Botwinick, SUNY Cortland
Stephen O’Connell, Swarthmore College
J. W. Mason, John Jay College – CUNY
Randy Albelda, University of Massachusetts Boston
Michael Reich, University of California, Berkeley
John Womack, Harvard University
Ben Zipperer, Economic Policy Institute
Benjamin Wilson, SUNY Cortland
Justin A. Elardo, Portland Community College
Joan Hoffman, John Jay College – CUNY
Jack Willis, Columbia University
Robert A. Nakosteen, University of Massachusetts Amherst
José Blanco, Universidad Autónoma de México