Economists' Statement on Climate Change

The Economists' Statement on Climate Change was published in 1997, prior to the Kyoto Protocol negotiated that same year, to promote market-based solutions to climate change. It was signed by more than 2,600 economists, including 17 Nobel Prize laureates, and remains the largest public statement in the history of the economics profession.

The statement was coordinated by Redefining Progress, an environmental economics think tank founded by Ted Halstead.

Statement content

The statement published on 29 March 1997 consisted of three paragraphs. The first notes that a International Panel on Climate Change review had found that "the balance of evidence suggests a discernable human influence on global climate", and states that as economists, the signatories believe "global climate change carries with it significant environmental, economic, social, and geopolitical risks, and that preventive steps are justified". The second paragraph notes economic research that had found that policies to reduce emissions carried total benefits higher than their total costs. The signatories state that "[f]or the United States in particular, sound economic analysis shows that there are policy options that would slow climate change without harming American living standards, and that these measures may in fact improve U.S. productivity in the long run". The final paragraph notes that "[t]he most efficient approach to slowing climate change is through market-based policies", giving the examples of carbon taxes and auctions of emissions permits.

Original drafters

• Kenneth Arrow
• Dale W. Jorgenson
• Paul Krugman
• William Nordhaus
• Robert Solow

Nobel Laureate signatories

• Kenneth Arrow
• Gérard Debreu
• Lars Peter Hansen
• John Harsanyi
• James Heckman
• Leonid Hurwicz
• Lawrence Klein
• Paul Krugman
• Wassily Leontief
• Franco Modigliani
• Alvin E. Roth
• Thomas J. Sargent
• Amartya Sen
• Robert Solow
• Joseph Stiglitz
• James Tobin
• Oliver E. Williamson

History and organization

The Economists' Statement on Climate Change was organized by Redefining Progress, an environmental economics think tank founded in 1993 by Ted Halstead, who served as its first Executive Director. Economist Stephen DeCanio, at the time a Senior Research Fellow at Redefining Progress, played an important role in the effort.

Halstead and Decanio approached the original drafters listed above, and worked with them to co-draft the statement, which was subsequently mailed to other economists. The statement was released on March 29, 1997, in advance of the Kyoto Climate Change Conference of December 1997, which led to the Kyoto Protocol. Redefining Progress ceased operations in 2008.