An impressive list of economists from many countries have signed a declaration calling for a stepping up of urgent action to meet the Paris agreement and limit global warming to 1.5ºC . Within this context, they call for putting a stop to investment in more fossil fuel projects and closing down those currently in operation more quickly. The declaration is published below.

Declaration on Climate Finance

In advance of French President Macron’s climate and finance summit, we 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 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 under way and we recognise 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 recognise that continued investments in fossil fuel production supply-side is irreconcilable with meaningful climate action. Instead, let us all prioritise 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.

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
• Professor, Dr Camilla Toulmin
• Carolina Burle Schmidt Dubeux – Environmental 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, 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
• 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, 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 – Victoria University of Wellington
• 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
• Ramon E. Lopez
• Professor at the University of Chile , Santiago · Departamento de Economía
• 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 Varoufakis – Greek Economist, Academic and Politician
• Yifat Reuveni – Head of social-finance innovation JDC College of Management business school, Faculty of Management – Tel Aviv University