Group of leading economists call on policymakers to hasten the close of the ‘carbon economy’. More than 100 of the world’s leading economists have urged policymakers to seize a “rare opportunity” to establish a greener, fairer economic system in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The group, which counts Jeffrey Sachs, Nobel Peace prize winner Joseph Sitglitz, Mariana Mazzicato, and Kate Raworth amongst its number, set out its case in a letter published in The Guardian that underscored how climate breakdown is disproportionately felt by low-income and marginalised communities.
Policymakers now have a chance to usher in an economic system that addresses these historic injustices, they argued, by taking steps to dismantle the fossil fuel industry as they reboot economies in the wake of the pandemic.The experts argued that governments must actively phase out the fossil fuel industry by ending bailouts and subsidies to the sector in the wake of the pandemic, noting that a failure to do so will delay the clean energy transition crucial to reducing carbon emissions. They also argued that banks and investors must divest from oil, gas, and coal companies and reinvest resources into sustainable ventures.
These drastic steps are necessary to deal with a fossil fuel industry that has proved itself incapable of meaningful action on climate, the economists argued. Finally, the academics stressed, a green recovery must eschew a return to “business as usual” and enshrine an economic system that addresses, instead of perpetuates, social inequalities. Calls for a green recovery have ranged from the UK’s government; its climate advisors Committee on Climate Change; Greenpeace; the United Nations; and a coalition of more than 200 British corporates.
Source: Business Green
Finnish site 
Global site