Abstract:

Two vital challenges facing the world are global inequality and global climate change. Solutions to both these problems are urgently needed, but, given current policies, they can potentially conflict with each other. The United Nations has set 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be met by 2030. Even in 2019, the world was not on track for many SDGs, but the 2020 coronavirus pandemic has made their timely attainment even less likely. Similarly, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have continued to rise, even in the first half of 2020. Clearly, present approaches to solving both problems are not working. This paper suggests several non-mainstream approaches that have the potential to address both challenges. A prerequisite is deep reductions in fossil fuel energy. Possible policies to achieve this include major cuts in air and car travel, shifts to a vegetarian diet, a global carbon tax and transitioning to some form of universal basic income.

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