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Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · 16h

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

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Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · 16h

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

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 18h

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

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Reposted by Tom Athanasiou

Rainforest Action Network @ran.org · 21d

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

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Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · 9d

The Drawdown Solutions Explorer is pure Awesome. Seriously, look at it. Even you cynical bastards

Project Drawdown @projectdrawdown.bsky.social · 15d

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.

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Reposted by Tom Athanasiou

Oil Change International @oilchange.bsky.social · 17d

🚨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/

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

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Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · 23d

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

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Reposted by Tom Athanasiou

Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe @caneurope.org · Aug 18

💰 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 ‪

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

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Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · Jul 31

Lovely piece in Crikey. My question is why performative fatalism is so popular?

Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · Jul 30

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

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Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · Jul 23

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

Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · Jul 16

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

The Democratic Coalition @thedemcoalition.bsky.social · Jul 7

Here's a timely reminder.

#TaxTheRich

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Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · Jul 3

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-...

On a Dying Multilateralism - FPIF

What can replace the global order?

fpif.org

Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · Jun 26

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

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Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · Jun 24

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.

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Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · Jun 17

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

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Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · Jun 11

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

Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · Jun 10

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.

Thomas Piketty @thomaspiketty.bsky.social · Jun 9

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🧵]

World Inequality Lab @wid.world · Jun 9

🚨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...

Reposted by Tom Athanasiou

World Inequality Lab @wid.world · Jun 9

🚨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...

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

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Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · May 15

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:

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Reposted by Tom Athanasiou

John Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch.ft.com · Apr 24

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

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Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · Apr 21

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

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Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · Apr 18

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

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

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Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · Apr 16

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

Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · Apr 1

@learning2live.bsky.social has a long piece in @thebaffler.com that is very much worth the read. It's focused on the climate crisis in Nepal, but, actually, you should file it in the "macro in the micro" department. See thebaffler.com/salvos/down-...

Down by the River | Wen Stephenson

In Nepal, financial ascendancy is outpaced by its increasing vulnerability to climate change.

thebaffler.com

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