Fighting climate change and inequalities: a win-win political solution

Climate change and economic inequality are deeply interconnected and can exacerbate each other if left unaddressed. A study published in Climate change sheds light on this critical relationship using data from eight large-scale integrated assessment models (IAMs) to examine the distributional impacts of climate policies and climate risks.

The study provides strong evidence that climate policies aligned with the Paris Agreement can mitigate long-term inequality while combating climate change.

Led by Johannes Emmerling, senior scientist at the Euro-Mediterranean Climate Change Center (CMCC), the study assesses the extent to which climate change is expected to increase inequality within countries, with the Gini index increasing on average by 1, 4 point by 2100.

However, implementing ambitious climate policies, such as carbon pricing, can significantly reduce this increase in inequality in the long term. The study finds that fair redistribution of carbon revenues among citizens can not only offset short-term economic costs, but also reduce inequality, lowering the Gini index by almost 2 points.

“This research demonstrates that with careful policy design, we can tackle both climate change and economic inequality, two of the most pressing challenges of our time,” says Emmerling.

“By showing how redistributing carbon income can lead to immediate benefits for low-income households while putting us on the path to a stable climate, we hope to provide policymakers with a roadmap for more equitable climate action and politically feasible.”

The innovative multi-model comparison highlights that while climate policies may lead to increased inequality in the short term, well-designed redistribution mechanisms can reverse this trend and contribute to greater social justice.

“As countries around the world look for ways to achieve climate goals without exacerbating inequality, this paper is timely, highlighting the importance of smart policy design to ensure the benefits of climate action are realized. shared equally,” Emmerling said.

“This research highlights the need and opportunity to align climate security and climate justice. This is a research topic of great importance to our institute, and this international collaboration is a testament to the research capacity community to shed light on high-stakes issues.” concludes Massimo Tavoni, author of the study and director of the CMCC’s European Institute of Economics and Environment.