By Team AEC, Austrian Economics Center
We argue that Market Environmentalism is the best approach to fully address climate change and resource use.
For too long, the environmental debate has been dominated by heavy-handed, top-down solutions. We often hear about the need to overthrow capitalism in order to curb global warming, or that Green New Deals are the only way to save the planet. These are expensive, ineffective, and wrong. Meanwhile, pro-market voices are rarely present in the environmental debate.
That is why last year, alongside the British Conservation Alliance and over 15 pro-market and environmental organizations from all around the world we wrote the Green Market Revolution: How Market Environmentalism Can Protect Nature and Save the Planet, a book in which we put forward a holistic and international vision of market environmentalism.
We are excited to share that this week, alongside the American Conservation Coalition and more than 130 free-market leaders from more than 60 countries and all continents who have joined us in signing the Market Environmentalism Declaration in which we are calling for a pro-market alternative to protect the planet.
With it we affirm that climate change poses environmental and economic risks, but that free markets and human ingenuity provide the most powerful means to overcome such risks; we maintain that nature—our precious landscapes, ecosystems, oceans, and wildlife—is intrinsically valuable and worth protecting; considering that many of the solutions proposed by mainstream climate leaders, activists, and policymakers often fall short, we argue that Market Environmentalism, where markets, enterprise, trade, and communities create accountability and unleash innovation, is the best approach to fully address climate change and resource use.
To create the greener future, we affirm and pledge to uphold the following four principles:
- Market Economy
- Private Property Rights
- Decentralization
- Optimism and Innovation
The environmental narrative is changing. There is no more room for political gridlock. It is time for real action and real solutions. Market Environmentalism affirms the powerful role markets, enterprise, trade, and local communities play in protecting our environment and empowers them to do so. Ultimately, only a Green Market Revolution will ensure humanity’s flourishing and true environmental sustainability.