Money = Consumption = Emissions

At the moment, the economy and the environment are treated as separate systems, which is a big problem. This is because they compete with each other and the economy always wins in the end. This is an inherent problem of our current economic system, which is fixated on the pursuit of profit and the overuse of natural resources. This is why we cannot solve the climate crisis within the existing monetary system. The simplified equation "money = consumption = emissions" not only brings to light the omnipresent climate and emissions injustice between rich and poor, but also describes the inseparable causality between wealth and climate-damaging emissions - as long as our consumer goods are not yet generally produced in a climate-neutral way. However, raising prices in the fight against climate change is of little use. This is because money saved by cutting back or doing without or using more efficient technologies in one place is usually spent again elsewhere - e.g. on an additional vacation (rebound effect). This is another reason why it is essential to decouple effective climate protection and our consumption-related emissions from the monetary system - for example through a complementary climate currency! 

Moreover, our conventional money alone is hardly suitable for transparently reflecting the impact of our consumption on ecosystems. This is because there are many products in our modern consumer society that are economically very cheap to produce and are therefore also sold cheaply, but whose production or operation is associated with high ecological costs for the environment. The CO2 surcharge included in the product price also prevents desirable transparency, as it is almost completely lost in the overall price. This makes it more difficult for consumers to choose the more climate-friendly product. This is why we will not achieve the necessary reduction in emissions to meet the climate target, neither through certificate trading nor through price increases. We need a model that is capable of reconciling national interests with global necessities. Because drastically reducing emissions in order to comply with planetary boundaries is not optional, but mandatory! 

 

An effective and at the same time socially just alternative could be a consistently polluter-based system at consumer level. Through personally tradable CO2 budgets and the resulting change in purchasing behaviour of the vast majority of consumers, the necessary pressure for change is built up on the economy to decarbonize its production processes with intrinsic motivation - towards significantly more green alternatives for consumers. After all, industry produces what we (can) buy with our limited budgets. 

 

"The climate crisis is a global, multi-causal and multi-layered problem."

 

We cannot fight them with individual regulations, but need a scalable framework for action that allows us to react quickly and appropriately to ecological challenges. We will only live up to our responsibility for future generations if we shape our economic, consumer and lifestyle habits in a sustainable way and take ecological and social aspects into account on an equal footing with economic ones.

 

To achieve this, we need a paradigm shift,

• which simultaneously records greenhouse gases in connection with our consumption without gaps, maps them transparently and accounts for them fairly.
• towards a system within which individuals can still decide freely about their consumption behavior, but within clearly defined limits for everyone.
• which guarantees precise and flexible achievement of the climate target.
• towards a model that is relatively easy to administer and also contributes to reducing social inequality.
• A move away from measures that rely predominantly on price increases, restrictions and waivers, that disproportionately affect lower-income households and that drive domestic emissions-intensive industry abroad, where less stringent environmental regulations apply.
• A move away from small-scale, often unpopular measures towards personal, tradable emissions budgets.

 

 

Achieving the climate target with a complementary climate currency and personal emissions budgets

 A socially just and, above all, more effective alternative to the current tools for reducing emissions could be a climate currency that exists alongside the national currency and is used to pay for citizens' consumption-based CO2 emissions by means of a digital carbon resource currency. This currency would place the control potential for climate protection in the hands of all consumers by means of personally tradable emissions budgets and intrinsically motivate companies to produce in a more environmentally friendly way. 

In addition, such emissions trading at citizen level could contribute to reducing the wealth gap, as unused budgets can be sold for money. In this way, lower-income households or citizens of poorer countries, who generally consume less in a climate-damaging way, could secure additional financial income. The model would promote a socio-ecological transformation by transferring the responsibility and control potential for climate protection to consumers, while at the same time managing without additional regulatory increases in price. It also relieves politicians of the need to impose, implement and monitor small-scale and often unpopular measures.

 

 

Find out more on: www.saveclimate.earth