From Climate Change to Sustainable and Inclusive Economies: A Policy Agenda

Abstract

Climate change and neoliberalism are threat multipliers: they combine risks, increase instability and penalise disproportionately poor countries and poor people by virtue of their greater vulnerability disruption. This article examines the complex relationships between neoliberalism and climate change, and outlines a democratic economic strategy (DES) to address the transition from neoliberalism to a more dynamic, progressive and egalitarian system of accumulation, and the ‘green’ transition from unsustainable fossil fuel-dependent patterns of production to more diversified and sustainable economies. Both transitions must be pursued immediately, rather than gradually, separately or sequentially, for reasons of efficiency, consistency and legitimacy: the green transition will carry heavy costs and bring difficult political and economic challenges. Public support to address them will be forthcoming only through a shared commitment to transcend the destructive, polluting, exclusionary and income-concentrating logic of neoliberalism. DES offers a pathway to address these challenges and build sustainable and democratic economies.