How to tackle inequality and the climate crisis in 5 steps

In "Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity," we are presented with two possible futures. 

In the first — called "Too Little, Too Late" — the 21st Century is dominated by destabilizing inequality, a rising ecological footprint, loss of biodiversity and temperatures that soar to 2.5 degrees Celsius (36.5 degrees Fahrenheit) warming.

In the second — "The Giant Leap" — we stabilize global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius and end poverty by 2050 through a seismic transformation of our global economy. 

The split between these paths looks more like a cliff edge than a crossroads, as Jorgen Randers, professor emeritus of climate strategy at the BI Norwegian Business School and one of the book's six co-authors, sees it. 

And it is this sense of urgency that thrums through Earth for All, a survival guide for tackling the simultaneous, interlinked crises of environmental degradation and profound inequality. The book argues it is not only critical but entirely possible to solve them with the investment of 2-4% of GDP — less, it highlights, than what is currently spent annually on fossil fuel subsidies. 

Vote — and take collective action 

While it sets sight on seismic global policy shifts, in the foreword to the book, Christiana Figueres, a Costa Rican diplomat and one of the central architects of the Paris Climate Agreement, writes that large-scale systems change is surprisingly personal. "It starts with each of us, with what we prioritize, what we are willing to stand up for, and how we decide to show up in the world." 

Randers too believes it is not just policy makers that can bring us back from the cliff edge. Consumer actions that move away from fossil fuels — like buying a heat pump instead of using gas or purchasing an electric car — have their merit. But ultimately, he believes we need to fully embrace "collective action." 

And the most important message is to vote correctly, says Randers. "To get in power, politicians or a political party that is willing to behave as a strong government to tax sufficiently to be able to pay for the solutions that we all need."

A roadmap for economic transformation 

The book presents these solutions in the form of five ‘extraordinary turnarounds': ending poverty through reform of the international financial system, ensuring the wealthiest 10% take no more than 40% of national incomes, empowering women for full gender equity, transforming the food system and a clean energy transition to reach net zero global emissions by 2050. 

It also outlines a roadmap for achieving them in the form of 15 policy recommendations, many of which are directly climate related. The include the International Monetary Fund transferring $1 trillion (€1 trillion) per year to low-income countries for creating green jobs, increasing annual global investments in new renewables to over $1 trillion, electrifying "everything", phasing out fossil fuels and ending agricultural expansion.

In the book's "Giant Leap" scenario, by 2050 the food system will be regenerative, food waste dramatically reduced through legislation, and local food production economically incentivized. 

Tackle global inequality 

Achieving this scale of transformation will require "truly extraordinary action to redistribute wealth", Randers explains, as inequality and planetary destruction are intimately linked. "If we continue [as we are] equality is going to go down and the temperature is going to keep rising."

The book describes greater equality as the closest thing the world has to a silver bullet. It will help generate funds to make the "Giant Leap." Without it, the authors predict society will be too embroiled in social tensions related to poverty and declining wellbeing to take the necessary action to tackle climate change. 

To this end, the book's proposals include increasing tax rates on the richest 10% of the global population — who currently take home 52% of global incomes and earn on average $122,100 , according to the World Inequality Report produced by the Paris School of Economics. It also argues the private sector should be charged for extracting or polluting resources that belong to all in society — such as land, freshwater and the atmosphere. The money this raises would be put into a Citizens Fund and then divided by the population number to produce a lump sum that could be distributed equally back to all citizens. 

State subsidies for clean energy 

Redistributing wealth will help fund an energy transition which although technologically speaking is a piece of cake will only happen at scale through subsidizing, says Randers. "Instead of relying on the market and voluntary action, we introduce an active state, which is well funded and actually pays what it takes to make the world more sustainable." 

Ensuring that climate solutions are fairly funded is paramount. "All the technologies exist to solve these five problems…so you need to ask why we haven't yet," says Randers. The fundamental explanation, he believes, is that the major crises have been created by the overconsumption and extractivism of the world's wealthiest people. "Unless we get into a situation where the rich pay for the repair, we will never get democratic agreement on any action." 

Take action — whether you are optimistic or not 

This is not the first fork in the climate road Randers has stood before. 

In 1972 he was co-author of the seminal work, "The Limits of Growth," which argued material consumption of energy and resources could not continue indefinitely. If we had paid attention to this book, environmentalist Bill McKibben argues, "we wouldn't be in the fix we're in today."

The disappointing lack of action in the ensuing 50 years has made Randers more hesitant to be optimistic. Luckily, he says, the other Earth for All academics fully believe society is capable of a great leap, taking hope from huge achievements like the Paris Agreement.

The purpose of the book is not only to be a study, Randers explains, but an active call to form a "strong global coalition” of civil society groups around the ideas. 

And ultimately action is urgent regardless of where you land on the optimism spectrum, says Randers. "We should work as hard as we can to try to get people to understand that this is important — important enough that they actually join in a big movement to force the rich to pay the bill."

Edited by: Tamsin Walker