Article: Group of economists call for the end of a carbon economy

This article is from the Guardian, and it talks about a group of economists calling for the end of the current carbon economy. They plan to use the current pandemic as a chance to change the structure of the economy.

The article starts by mentioning the huge pressure to re-start the carbon economy. Through the lock down, the economy has been suffering and many are calling for the economy to reopen as soon as possible. However the article denounces this point of view saying that reopening this economy is not necessarily a good thing. Climate change is causing many people around the world to suffer from wildfires, deforestation and other negative causes. Also, the carbon economy could be an accelerator in the creation of future diseases like Covid-19.

The article also states that the carbon economy causes lots of injustices in the world. The poorer people often suffer the effects of negative externalities worse that the richer people. The writer also claims that certain races and social groups are consistently put through suffering in the carbon economy. This article says that the current lock down is a very good chance to weaken the dependence on fossil fuels in our society and to strengthen the use of green energy. The writer believes that giving huge bailouts and subsidies to certain companies is not a good move, as they could be missing a chance to phase out some of these massive corporations. This money on the bailouts could be given to the green economy to help increase production and availability of green energy, therefore strengthening the base for a future green economy and phasing out the current carbon economy.

The article then discusses the role of private businesses and investors. It calls for the largest banks, universities and investors to stop placing bets on and strengthening the carbon economy. Their investments are mainly what maintains the importance of the carbon economy. These investors should give capital to the green economy instead.

In general, this articles speaks about the faults of the current carbon economy such as inequality, injustice and climate change, how we can change that by transitioning to a green economy with the help of the government and private institutions and it says that this pandemic gives us an opportunity to do so.