Planet Income now!
An evenly distributed income for all citizens, financed by the pricing of carbon, plastic, pesticides and other pollutants.
Why Planet Income?
Our economic system creates false incentives that encourage environmental damage and result in extremely high follow-up costs. From 2070, climate change alone can cause costs of 5.4 trillion US$ every year. The Planet Income helps to reduce these false incentives and bring people closer together. It ensures a social balance and helps all people to overcome current and upcoming financial challenges. However, the Planet Income not only contributes to a better distribution of wealth, it also increases our overall prosperity. This is because financing from the pricing of products that are harmful to the environment and health saves us trillions in societal costs. The following overview shows how much prosperity can be gained.
Hidden cost of CO₂: 237 – 809 € per ton (UBA)
Hidden cost of fertilizers: 4.890 – 6.940 € per ton (UBA)
Hidden cost of plastic: 17.790 – 197.800 US$ per ton (WWF)
Hidden cost of unhealthy foods: 9.310.188.000.000 US$ worldwide = 1.157 US$ per person annually (FAO)
How should this look like?
In Austria, a Climate Income has already been successfully introduced at national level. The Planet Income differs in two respects. Firstly, it is not limited to a single country, but is set up at supranational level. Secondly, it is not limited to the climate crisis, but also contributes to solving other environmental and health problems such as the plastic crisis, species extinction, water scarcity, land consumption, cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
We propose that the EU takes the initiative for the introduction of the Planet Income. It should be paid out monthly to all people living in the EU. We propose starting with a payment of 10 € per month and increasing this every month. On the financing side, the pricing of goods with negative externalities can thus be increased in many small steps without triggering price shocks. The aim is to structure pricing in such a way that the planetary boundaries are adhered to. The income from pricing should be paid out equally to all people.
This strengthens the demand for environmentally friendly and healthy products. Consequential damage caused by products that are harmful to the environment and health is reduced.
Our demands!
We advocate equal payouts across the EU in order to reduce inequalities between member states. If the EU Commission, the EU Parliament and the Council of the EU are unable to agree on a common path for payouts and pricing, we are committed to ensuring that payouts in the individual member states are harmonized over time. The speed of the increase in payments and pricing should be as swift as possible and as cautious as necessary.
Specifically, we are committed to pricing greenhouse gases (1.5° compatible), plastic, pesticides, fertilizers, animal testing, animal products, water extraction, nuclear energy, mining activities, land conversion, land sealing, tobacco, alcohol and foods containing unhealthy doses of fat, sugar and salt.
In the long term, the European Planet Income can become a model for a global Planet Money that helps those who are most affected by planetary crises. Since a simple reform of our economic system will not be enough, we also call for research into economic systems that do not focus on meeting human needs but on the well-being of the entire planet.
How much will the Planet Income be?
Citizens’ Climate Europe assumes that a payout of 46 € per month can be financed over the next 5 years through the pricing of CO₂ alone. As the pricing of CO₂ is only a small part of the Planet Income, the Planet Income will reach significantly higher amounts.
Who benefits from Planet Income?
The Planet Income is paid out to all people in equal amounts. People who consume fewer products that are harmful to the environment and health than average benefit directly from the Planet Income. Because the top consumers consume a disproportionately high amount, they pull the average upwards, so that more than half of the population benefits directly from Planet Income. Indirectly, the entire population benefits on a massive scale because we save on environmental and health costs. This reduces the burden on public and private households, companies and health insurers, from which we all benefit.
The market regulates this?
Unfortunately not. Planet Income is a state intervention to prevent a market outcome that imposes high follow-up costs on society. In the case of external effects, false price signals mean that products that are harmful to the environment and health are cheaper for consumers than better alternatives. However, we pay the price for this as a society as a whole. For example, when drinking water becomes more expensive because it has to be purified at great expense or when health insurance premiums rise because air pollution leads to more respiratory diseases.
Background information
Online articles
Earth4All: Wealth for all – a Universal Basic Dividend
Wikipedia: Carbon fee and dividend
Paper
Earth4All: The long road to a social dividend
CCE: Carbon Fee and Dividend in the European Union
WWF: Who Pays For Plastic Pollution?
FAO: Revealing the true cost of food
Rockström et al.: Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries
Get involved!
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