Abstract
Climate change is not just a matter of degrees and carbon: it is also a factory of inequalities. The poorest populations, those who have contributed the least to global emissions, are also those who suffer the most from the consequences of global warming, be it droughts, floods, the collapse of agricultural yields or the destruction of habitats. Esther Duflo, Nobel Prize in Economics 2019, has shown that the insurance mechanisms that protect the richest are precisely those that are lacking for the most vulnerable: the rich insure themselves among the rich, while the poor remain exposed among the poor.
So how can we finance a transition that does not become a privilege for the countries of the North? Is the carbon tax a fair tool or an additional burden for the most modest? Can we put a figure on the ecological, health and energy costs that the conventional economy insists on ignoring? And beyond economic tools, what consensus is possible between a South that legitimately claims its right to development and a North that has built its prosperity on the exploitation of common resources?
This round table, moderated by students from Sorbonne University, brings together the views of economists and transition specialists to sketch out the contours of a response that is both effective and equitable, from the scale of international agreements to that of local policies.
