Tom Athanasiou
@tathanasiou.bsky.social
Climate equity policy activist. My big question is "What would be fair enough to actually work?"
Tech along will of course not save us. We also need real and robust international cooperation. Not bloody likely at this level of extreme inequality. So interesting to see this amazing *international* study of support of various redistributionist strategies. See www.nature.com/articles/s41...
October 27, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Tech along will of course not save us. We also need real and robust international cooperation. Not bloody likely at this level of extreme inequality. So interesting to see this amazing *international* study of support of various redistributionist strategies. See www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The First Politically Viable Wealth Tax? In California? No climate angle yet, but who cares. We'll get to that soon. For now, see prospect.org/2025/10/23/u...
Unveiled Today: The First Politically Viable Wealth Tax - The American Prospect
A proposed 2026 California ballot measure would tax billionaires’ fortunes to fund imperiled health access for 15 million state Medicaid recipients. The spillover effects of its presence on the midter...
prospect.org
October 23, 2025 at 10:00 PM
The First Politically Viable Wealth Tax? In California? No climate angle yet, but who cares. We'll get to that soon. For now, see prospect.org/2025/10/23/u...
This looks to me like a *definitive* critique of, not just offsets, but any market-based scheme that is not based on the rock solid verification of credit quality. Am I wrong? www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/news/carbon-...
Carbon offsets have failed for 25 years, and most should be phased out - research
Academics at the University of Oxford and the University of Pennsylvania have conducted the most comprehensive review of evidence on the effectiveness on carbon offsetting to date and concluded the pr...
www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk
October 8, 2025 at 8:34 PM
This looks to me like a *definitive* critique of, not just offsets, but any market-based scheme that is not based on the rock solid verification of credit quality. Am I wrong? www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/news/carbon-...
Dave Roberts is right (again). Also, this is USEFUL work. There are so many details to keep straight. Best to keep our eyes on the BIG ones
A new Nature study on the four horsemen of the climate-tipping-points apocalypse: "the Greenland Ice Sheet, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, the South American monsoon system and the Amazon rainforest."
Destabilization of Earth system tipping elements - Nature Geoscience
A review of observation-based evidence suggests that four interconnected Earth system tipping elements have moved towards their critical thresholds, highlighting the need for better monitoring and increased mitigation efforts.
www.nature.com
October 8, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Dave Roberts is right (again). Also, this is USEFUL work. There are so many details to keep straight. Best to keep our eyes on the BIG ones
Reposted by Tom Athanasiou
Let's be clear: billionaires are driving the climate crisis.
Despite contributing the least to climate change, it's people living in poverty who are disproportionately affected. The richest 1% emit as much carbon pollution as the poorest 5 BILLION people.
PollutingElite.earth
#PollutingElite
Despite contributing the least to climate change, it's people living in poverty who are disproportionately affected. The richest 1% emit as much carbon pollution as the poorest 5 BILLION people.
PollutingElite.earth
#PollutingElite
September 17, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Let's be clear: billionaires are driving the climate crisis.
Despite contributing the least to climate change, it's people living in poverty who are disproportionately affected. The richest 1% emit as much carbon pollution as the poorest 5 BILLION people.
PollutingElite.earth
#PollutingElite
Despite contributing the least to climate change, it's people living in poverty who are disproportionately affected. The richest 1% emit as much carbon pollution as the poorest 5 BILLION people.
PollutingElite.earth
#PollutingElite
The Drawdown Solutions Explorer is pure Awesome. Seriously, look at it. Even you cynical bastards
Project Drawdown has always been the world’s leading guide to science-based climate solutions 🌏.
With the new Drawdown Explorer, we’re moving beyond describing solutions → to spotlighting breakthrough strategies for accelerating climate action.
With the new Drawdown Explorer, we’re moving beyond describing solutions → to spotlighting breakthrough strategies for accelerating climate action.
September 30, 2025 at 12:57 AM
The Drawdown Solutions Explorer is pure Awesome. Seriously, look at it. Even you cynical bastards
Reposted by Tom Athanasiou
🚨New research🚨Rich countries can unlock $6.6 trillion for climate action by ending fossil fuels handouts, making polluters pay, defunding wars, taxing the super rich. There’s no shortage of $$ for action. It’s just in the wrong hands.
#FixtheFinance
➡️ Read more: oilchange.org/we-can-pay-for-it/
#FixtheFinance
➡️ Read more: oilchange.org/we-can-pay-for-it/
We Can Pay For It - Oil Change International
We Can Pay for It factsheet shows rich counties can unlock $6.6 trillion for climate action
oilchange.org
September 22, 2025 at 10:49 AM
🚨New research🚨Rich countries can unlock $6.6 trillion for climate action by ending fossil fuels handouts, making polluters pay, defunding wars, taxing the super rich. There’s no shortage of $$ for action. It’s just in the wrong hands.
#FixtheFinance
➡️ Read more: oilchange.org/we-can-pay-for-it/
#FixtheFinance
➡️ Read more: oilchange.org/we-can-pay-for-it/
I know Adam Tooze writes too fucking much. But I'm very glad I read this. The funny thing is that it makes me feel better to know that the US is not, alone, going to write the story of the future. Which -- admit it -- we sometimes fall into thinking. adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-...
Chartbook 402 Dual-circulation: travels through China in the summer of 2025.
Looking back, the first few months of this summer feel to me like a slow escape from the terrible vortex of US politics.
adamtooze.substack.com
September 15, 2025 at 6:57 PM
I know Adam Tooze writes too fucking much. But I'm very glad I read this. The funny thing is that it makes me feel better to know that the US is not, alone, going to write the story of the future. Which -- admit it -- we sometimes fall into thinking. adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-...
Reposted by Tom Athanasiou
💰 Taxing the super-rich could solve many of our climate and inequality problems. But there are many myths around a tax on the millionaires and billionaires.
💡 Test your knowledge and share your score with us! #TaxTheSuperRich
💡 Test your knowledge and share your score with us! #TaxTheSuperRich
What do you know about taxing the super-rich?
Are you ready for a challenge? Test your knowledge about taxing the super-rich and see your score! #TaxTheSuperRich
caneurope.org
August 18, 2025 at 8:30 AM
💰 Taxing the super-rich could solve many of our climate and inequality problems. But there are many myths around a tax on the millionaires and billionaires.
💡 Test your knowledge and share your score with us! #TaxTheSuperRich
💡 Test your knowledge and share your score with us! #TaxTheSuperRich
See Jonathon Porritt: "The IPCC: Can it regain its credibility?" My read is that we can still achieve 2C if all goes well, but of course it's not. I'm not a fatalist -- far from it -- but check out his list of the likely impacts of 2C of warming. www.meer.com/en/91051-the...
The IPCC: Can it regain its credibility?
A critical examination of climate science risk assessments and the growing challenge from global actuaries
www.meer.com
July 30, 2025 at 5:03 PM
See Jonathon Porritt: "The IPCC: Can it regain its credibility?" My read is that we can still achieve 2C if all goes well, but of course it's not. I'm not a fatalist -- far from it -- but check out his list of the likely impacts of 2C of warming. www.meer.com/en/91051-the...
On another front, climate law, a huge event just finally went down. The International Court of Justice just released its Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States in respect to Climate Change, It was a somber event, and quite affecting to watch. webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1c...
THE HAGUE – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivers its Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivers its advisory opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change.
webtv.un.org
July 23, 2025 at 3:42 PM
On another front, climate law, a huge event just finally went down. The International Court of Justice just released its Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States in respect to Climate Change, It was a somber event, and quite affecting to watch. webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1c...
Read Wen Stephenson’s (@learning2live.bsky.social) Learning to Live in the Dark. Lots of us have intermittently ruminated on the climate catastrophe, and its meaning, but Wen has done so with sustained attention, and fruitfully. His thoughts are useful, and sometimes even consoling.
July 16, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Read Wen Stephenson’s (@learning2live.bsky.social) Learning to Live in the Dark. Lots of us have intermittently ruminated on the climate catastrophe, and its meaning, but Wen has done so with sustained attention, and fruitfully. His thoughts are useful, and sometimes even consoling.
Reposted by Tom Athanasiou
July 7, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Killer opinion piece: On a Dying Multilateralism by Walden Bello, in Foreign Policy in Focus. "Is it possible to move towards a new, more participatory system of multilateralism without bringing forth a post-capitalist system of economic, social, and political relations?"
fpif.org/requiem-for-...
fpif.org/requiem-for-...
On a Dying Multilateralism - FPIF
What can replace the global order?
fpif.org
July 3, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Killer opinion piece: On a Dying Multilateralism by Walden Bello, in Foreign Policy in Focus. "Is it possible to move towards a new, more participatory system of multilateralism without bringing forth a post-capitalist system of economic, social, and political relations?"
fpif.org/requiem-for-...
fpif.org/requiem-for-...
The climate talks are in trouble, and it is not their fault. Point your finger at the global elites -- especially those in the Global North -- who are able to find money for their militaries, but not for climate or justice. Here's CAN press release from Bonn: climatenetwork.org/2025/06/26/b...
Breakthrough for Justice at Bonn climate talks amid a system in crisis - Climate Action Network
Civil society’s Just Transition priorities were officially tabled in the UN climate process in Bonn, thanks to relentless pressure from social movements, workers, and frontline communities.
climatenetwork.org
June 26, 2025 at 8:27 PM
The climate talks are in trouble, and it is not their fault. Point your finger at the global elites -- especially those in the Global North -- who are able to find money for their militaries, but not for climate or justice. Here's CAN press release from Bonn: climatenetwork.org/2025/06/26/b...
Did you love Robinson's Ministry for the Future but think it was maybe a wee bit too optimistic? What about Markley's great The Deluge? Did you think *it* was too optimistic? If so, you had best read Tim Winton's Juice. It's the climate future, and there are scores to be settled. Great book.
June 24, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Did you love Robinson's Ministry for the Future but think it was maybe a wee bit too optimistic? What about Markley's great The Deluge? Did you think *it* was too optimistic? If so, you had best read Tim Winton's Juice. It's the climate future, and there are scores to be settled. Great book.
Is the "abundance" debate over? I hope not, because I just read this terrific piece in The Nation on how the Abundance folks and we (left) populists need each other. Really worth reading. See www.thenation.com/article/poli...
The Abundance Debate Is Broken. Here’s How to Fix It.
Populists and abundance proponents have retreated into factional warfare. But both sides need to realize that they need each other.
www.thenation.com
June 17, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Is the "abundance" debate over? I hope not, because I just read this terrific piece in The Nation on how the Abundance folks and we (left) populists need each other. Really worth reading. See www.thenation.com/article/poli...
This is brief, but quite helpful on the key problem: "solar (and wind power) will continue to dominate marginal power system growth, but will struggle to cut into the fossil-fuel base" www.coldeye.earth/p/solar-prog...
Solar Progress
Monday 9 June 2025
www.coldeye.earth
June 11, 2025 at 1:02 AM
This is brief, but quite helpful on the key problem: "solar (and wind power) will continue to dominate marginal power system growth, but will struggle to cut into the fossil-fuel base" www.coldeye.earth/p/solar-prog...
Piketty and Nievas just released a pretty killer report on dependency theory. The thread that lays it out is at bsky.app/profile/did:... I'm no economic historian, but it seems plausible to me. Note also that the report's overall stance is pretty different from, say, the Hickel Fanning paper.
Colonial extraction and unequal exchange have shaped two centuries of North-South inequality.
A thread on the new study written with @gatonievas.bsky.social
[A thread 1/8🧵]
A thread on the new study written with @gatonievas.bsky.social
[A thread 1/8🧵]
🚨Global economic relations have long been defined by imbalances and unequal power, not by self-correcting market forces, NEW STUDY finds.
@thomaspiketty.bsky.social & @gatonievas.bsky.social call for structural reforms to the international monetary and exchange system.
wid.world/news-article...
@thomaspiketty.bsky.social & @gatonievas.bsky.social call for structural reforms to the international monetary and exchange system.
wid.world/news-article...
June 10, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Piketty and Nievas just released a pretty killer report on dependency theory. The thread that lays it out is at bsky.app/profile/did:... I'm no economic historian, but it seems plausible to me. Note also that the report's overall stance is pretty different from, say, the Hickel Fanning paper.
Reposted by Tom Athanasiou
🚨Global economic relations have long been defined by imbalances and unequal power, not by self-correcting market forces, NEW STUDY finds.
@thomaspiketty.bsky.social & @gatonievas.bsky.social call for structural reforms to the international monetary and exchange system.
wid.world/news-article...
@thomaspiketty.bsky.social & @gatonievas.bsky.social call for structural reforms to the international monetary and exchange system.
wid.world/news-article...
Colonial extraction and unequal exchange have shaped two centuries of North-South inequality - WID - World Inequality Database
In a new study, Gastón Nievas and Thomas Piketty examine patterns of global imbalances, current account surplus/deficit and net foreign wealth accumulation over more than two centuries.
wid.world
June 9, 2025 at 8:03 AM
🚨Global economic relations have long been defined by imbalances and unequal power, not by self-correcting market forces, NEW STUDY finds.
@thomaspiketty.bsky.social & @gatonievas.bsky.social call for structural reforms to the international monetary and exchange system.
wid.world/news-article...
@thomaspiketty.bsky.social & @gatonievas.bsky.social call for structural reforms to the international monetary and exchange system.
wid.world/news-article...
Let's call this good news -- climateanalytics.org/comment/reac... -- this in the precise sense that *very rapid action* could still bring us in under 1.5C. Like so:
May 15, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Let's call this good news -- climateanalytics.org/comment/reac... -- this in the precise sense that *very rapid action* could still bring us in under 1.5C. Like so:
Reposted by Tom Athanasiou
Fun: since Trump was elected, support for international cooperation of all kinds has climbed sharply, from free trade to overseas assistance.
Perhaps Trump’s real MAGA legacy will be Making Americans Globalists Again
Perhaps Trump’s real MAGA legacy will be Making Americans Globalists Again
April 24, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Fun: since Trump was elected, support for international cooperation of all kinds has climbed sharply, from free trade to overseas assistance.
Perhaps Trump’s real MAGA legacy will be Making Americans Globalists Again
Perhaps Trump’s real MAGA legacy will be Making Americans Globalists Again
NB: ‘Very few’ Africans place responsibility for climate action on ‘rich nations’ . I mentioned this to an African collogue, and she speculated that most of them blame God. See www.carbonbrief.org/survey-very-...
Survey: ‘Very few’ Africans place responsibility for climate action on ‘rich nations’ - Carbon Brief
A new survey reveals that "very few" Africans place responsibility for climate action on “rich countries”.
www.carbonbrief.org
April 21, 2025 at 6:02 PM
NB: ‘Very few’ Africans place responsibility for climate action on ‘rich nations’ . I mentioned this to an African collogue, and she speculated that most of them blame God. See www.carbonbrief.org/survey-very-...
I'm still hoping for a renewal of democracy (see for example "liberal socialism") but this is just too good to ignore.. . .
China Knows How to Deal with its Billionaires
www.currentaffairs.org/news/china-k...
China Knows How to Deal with its Billionaires
www.currentaffairs.org/news/china-k...
China Knows How to Deal with its Billionaires
In the United States, wealthy individuals like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are allowed to dominate the country’s politics and economy. But there is another way.
www.currentaffairs.org
April 18, 2025 at 5:45 PM
I'm still hoping for a renewal of democracy (see for example "liberal socialism") but this is just too good to ignore.. . .
China Knows How to Deal with its Billionaires
www.currentaffairs.org/news/china-k...
China Knows How to Deal with its Billionaires
www.currentaffairs.org/news/china-k...
Boldly Go Where No Tax Has Gone Before . . . Tax Space Tourism. Sigh here: secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/...
Dear billionaires…
This week, Jeff Bezos skyrocketed the pop star Katy Perry and five other celebrity women on a pointless 11 minute joy-ride into space. Meanwhile the world burns below and ordinary people struggle to f...
secure.avaaz.org
April 16, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Boldly Go Where No Tax Has Gone Before . . . Tax Space Tourism. Sigh here: secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/...