The figure | Energy transition and environment | R. Coulomb, F. Henriet and L. Reitzmann

For this edition of the figure of Economics for everybody, Renaud Coulomb, Fanny Henriet and Léo Reitzmann explain how emissions of several giga-tons of carbon dioxide could have been avoided between 1992 and 2018.

Texts cited:

• Coulomb R., Henriet F. & Reitzmann L., ’Bad’ Oil, ’Worse’ Oil and Carbon Misallocation, 2021.

Renaud Coulomb is professor in economics at the école des Mines Paris - PSL and senior lecturer in the department of economics at the university of Melbourne.

Fanny Henriet is professor at Paris School of Economics and research fellow at the CNRS. She is specialized in environmental economics and works on the future of fossil fuels and environmental taxation.

Léo Reitzmann is a PhD student at Paris School of Economics and at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). His current research focuses on regulating greenhouse gas emissions from the oil industry.

Read more:

• Coulomb R. & Henriet F., “The Grey Paradox: How fossil-fuel owners can benefit from carbon taxation”, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 87: (2018) 206–223.

• Anderson J.E., Azevedo I.L., Badahdah A., Bergerson J.A., Bi X.T., Brandt A.R., Duffy J.E., El-Houjeiri H.M., Englander J.G., Gordon D., Heath G.A., Keoleian G.A., Koomey J., Li Y., Masnadi M.S., McGlade C., Meehan D.N., Monfort J.C., Przesmitzki S., Schunack D., Wallington T.J., Wang M., Yeh S. & You F. “Global carbon intensity of crude oil production”, Science 361, 6405: (2018) 851–853.

• Ekins P. & McGlade C., “The geographical distribution of fossil fuels unused when limiting global warming to 2C”, Nature 517, 7533: (2015) 187–190.

* This document is part of the new Economics for everybody formula.