DECLARATION

We the undersigned, call for an immediate end to investments in new fossil fuel production and infrastructure, and encourage a dramatic increase in investments in renewable energy.

We are issuing this call to action in the lead up to the climate summit hosted by President Macron in Paris this December. President Macron and other world leaders, have already spoken out about the need for an increase in finance for climate solutions, but they have remained largely silent about the other, dirtier side of the equation: the ongoing finance of new coal, oil and gas production and infrastructure.

Ongoing global climate change and environmental destructions are happening at an unprecedented scale, and it will take unprecedented actions to limit the worst consequences of our dependence on oil, coal, and gas.

Equally as critical as drastically curbing the carbon intensity of our economic systems is the need for immediate and ambitious actions to stop exploration and expansion of fossil fuel projects and manage the decline of existing production in line with what is necessary to achieve the Paris climate goals.

Research shows that the carbon embedded in existing fossil fuel production will take us far beyond safe climate limits. Thus, not only are new exploration and new production incompatible with limiting global warming to well below 2ºC (and as close to 1.5ºC as possible), but many existing projects will need to be phased-out faster than their natural decline. Simply put: there is no more room for new fossil fuel infrastructure and therefore no case for ongoing investment.

It is time for the community of global economic actors to fully embrace, safe, and renewable energies and phase out fossil fuels. This letter affirms that it is the urgent responsibility and moral obligation of public and private investors and development institutions to lead in putting an end to fossil fuel development.

A global transition to a low carbon future is already well underway and we recognize that a full transition away from fossil fuels is an opportunity for a new economic paradigm of prosperity and equity. Continued expansion of oil, coal, and gas is only serving to hinder the inevitable transition while at the same time exacerbating conflicts, fuelling corruption, threatening biodiversity, clean water and air, and infringing on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and vulnerable countries and communities.

Energy access and demand can and must now be met fully through the renewable energies of the 21st century. Assertions that new fossil fuels, such the current push for gas, are needed for this transformation are not only inaccurate; they also undermine the speed and penetration of renewable energy.

The global investment community has the power to create the conditions under which this shift is possible. Current and future investments in fossil fuel production are at odds with a safe and equitable transition away from ever stronger climate disasters.

Global investor and international development actors and institutions must recognize that continued investments in fossil fuel production supply-side is irreconcilable with meaningful climate action. Instead, let us all prioritize the tremendous investment opportunities for a 100% renewable future that support healthy economies while protecting workers, communities, and the ecological limits of a finite planet.

This text was adapted from the Lofoten Declaration.

Are you an economist or do you work in economics or finance capacities (i.e. institutional investors, finance ministers, business school professors, etc.)? Add your name to the list below:

SIGN THE DECLARATION

Signers of the Declaration on Climate Finance:

Alain Grandjean, Economist, Scientific advisor to the Foundation for Nature and Mankind

Alain Karsenty, Research Director at CIRAD, Montpellier

Ann Pettifor, Director of Policy Research in Macroeconomics, Prime

Anu Muhammad, Professor of Economics, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Aurore Lalucq, Economist and Director of the Veblen Institute

Camilla Toulmin, Professor, Dr

Carolina Burle Schmidt Dubeux, Environemental Economist, PhD and teacher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro · COPPE/Centro Clima

Cédric Durand, Maître de conférences en Économie, université Paris 13

Claudia Kemfert, Head of the department of energy, transportation and environment at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin

Co-Pierre Georg, Associate Professor, University of Cape Town. Research Economist – Deutsche Bundesbank , Policy Associate – Economic Research Southern Africa

Denis Dupré, Professor of finance and ethics

Dominique Plihon, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Paris-Nord University Director, Center of Economics of the University of Paris Nord

Dr Ben Groom, Associate Professor of Environment & Development Economics, LSE

Dr Michael Mason, Associate Professor, Department of Geography and the Environment, LSE

Dr. Alaa Al Khourdajie, Teaching Fellow in Environmental Economics, School of Economics, University of Edinburgh

Dr. Ashok Khosla, Chairman, Development Alternatives

Dr. Charles Palmer, Associate Professor of Environment and Development, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE),

Dr. Ron Milcarek, UMASS Economics Department

Dr. Simplice Asongu, Lead Research Economist, African Governance and Development Institute

Emilio Padilla Rosa, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Economics, Autonomous University of Barcelona

Frank Ackerman, Principal Economist, Synapse Energy Economics

Gail Whiteman, Professor

Gautam Sethi, Associate Professor of Economics and Econometrics, Bard Center for Environmental Policy

Helene Ollivier, Research fellow of the CNRS and Associate Professor at Paris School of Economics

Herman Daly, Emeritus Professor, University of Maryland

Ian Kinniburgh, Former Director of Department of Policy and Analysis Division, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Ilan Noy, Chair in the Economics of Disasters, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

Ivar Ekeland Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Former President, the University of Paris-Dauphine

Jaime De Melo, Scientific Director at Ferdi (Emeritus Professor, University of Geneva)

James Kenneth Galbraith, Economist

Jean Gadrey, Jean Gadrey, former Professor of economics, University of Lille

Jean-Pierre Ponssard, Senior Research Fellow CNRS France

Jeffrey Sachs, Economist, Senior UN Advisor

John C. Quiggin, Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and professor at the School of Economics, University of Queensland

John Hewson, Former Leader of the Federal Opposition, Australia

Jon D. Erickson, David Blittersdorf Professor of Sustainability Science and Policy

José Almeida de Souza Jr., Economist

Jusen Asuka, Professor Tohoku University

Kate Pickett, Professor, University of York Research Champion for Justice & Equality

Kate Raworth, Senior Visiting Research Associate, Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University

Katheline Schubert, Associate Professor at the Paris School of Economics and researcher at the Sorbonne Center for Economics

Katrin Millock, Associate Professor, Paris School of Economics & Research Fellow at CNRS

Lionel Fontagné, Professor of Economics at the Paris School of Economics - University Paris 1

Maria rosa ravelli abreu, Prof. Universidade Brasilia

Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value, Director, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose

Mark Campanale, Founder & Executive Director, Carbon Tracker Initiative

Marzio Galeotti, Ph.D., Professor of Environmental and Energy Economics, University of Milan - Milan, Italy

Maxime Combes, Maxime Combes, economist for ATTAC

Michael Jacobs, Visiting Professor, School of Public Policy, University College London

Michael Pirson, Professor, Gabelli School of Business, Fordham University

Mohammad A Jabbar, Agricultural Economist, International Livestock Research Institute

Mouez FODHA, Professor of Economics, Paris School of Economics & University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne.

Mutsuyoshi Nishimura, Former Ambassador of Japan to the UNFCCC negotiations Research Fellow, The Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIAA)

Neva Rockefeller Goodwin, Co-Director, Global Development And Environment Institute, Tufts University

Nicolas Bouleau, Mathematician, Economist

Oliver Sartor, PhD, Senior Research Fellow Climate and Energy, IDDRI

Patrick Criqui, Research Director, CNRS

Peter A. Victor Ph.D.,FRSC, Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University

Pierre-Richard Agenor, Professor of International Macroeconomics and Development Economics, University of Manchester

Pirax Didier, Econnomist

Prof Ross Garnaut, Professorial Research Fellow in Economics, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Melbourne

Prof. James Renwick, Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences

Prof. Michael Finus, Chair in Environmental Economics

Prof. Phoebe Koundouri, Athens University of Economics and Business, Director of International Center for Research on the Environment and the Economy, Chair Sustainable Development SOlutions Network Greece

Prof. Simone Borghesi, President Elect IAERE - Italian Association of Environmental and Resource Economists

Ramón López, Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile

RENOUARD Cécile, Professor, Centre Sèvres-Jesuit University of Paris and researcher, ESSEC Business School

Reyer Gerlagh, Professor of Economics, Tilburg University, Netherlands

Richard Denniss, Chief Economist, The Australia Institute

Richard Wilkinson, Emeritus Professor of Social Epidemiology University of Nottingham.

Rick Van der Ploeg, Professor of Economics and Research Director of the Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies at Oxford University, former Chief Financial Spokesperson in the Dutch Parliament

Robert Costanza, VC's Chair in Public Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University

Robert M. Freund, Theresa Seley Professor in Management Science, Sloan School of Management, MIT

Serge Reliant, Economiste

Seyhun Orcan Sakalli, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Economics, University of Lausanne

Shahriar Shahida, Co-Chief Investment Officer Constellation Capital Management LLC

Shuzo Nishioka, Counsellor, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies

Slim Ben Youssef, Professor, ESC de Tunis

Suzi Kerr, Senior Fellow, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research

Takeshi Mizuguchi, Professor Takasaki City University Of Economics

Terra Lawson-Remer, Fellow at the Stanford Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences

Thomas Porcher, Associate Professor, Paris School of Business, member of “Les économistes attérrés

Thomas Sterner, Chair LOC World Conference of Environmental Economics

Tim Jackson, Professor, University of Surrey, UK

Tom Sanzillo, Director of Finance for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis

Tom Steyer, Founder and former co-senior managing partner of Farallon Capital and the co-founder of OneCalifornia Bank

Valentina Bosetti, Associate professor at the Department of Economics, Bocconi University, President of the Italian Association of Environmental Economists

Véronique Seltz, PhD in Economics

Yanis Varoufakism, Greek Economist, Academic and Politician

Yifat Reuveni, Head of social-finance innovation JDC College of Management business school, Faculty of Management - Tel Aviv University

Originally published by Not A Penny More