A perspective on treaties, maximum wages, and carbon currencies: Innovative policy instruments for global decarbonization

Abstract Innovative policy instruments across the supply side (fossil fuel extraction), demand side (income and behaviour), and mediums of exchange (e.g.,. markets) can accelerate global decarbonization efforts in ways not yet supported by the global community. A fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, a maximum wage and restrictions on wealth, and a carbon currency could radically alter how we extract, finance, and value fossil fuels and the changes in climate that result. In that vein, this article highlights the role of different and perhaps unacknowledged actors in accelerating decarbonization, notably those of new intergovernmental organizations, labor economists, central banks, insurers, accountants, and taxation specialists. It also discusses the benefits, and anticipated obstacles, to each policy innovation as well as what sorts of “systems transformation” they might achieve if implemented together.