Abstract
Climate disruption and biodiversity collapse are but two symptoms of the environmental crisis caused by ever-growing resource consumption. Multiple overshoots of Earth’s planetary boundaries have pushed our natural systems close to or even beyond critical tipping points. Effective reduction of resource consumption, in particular fossil fuels, is now an immediate necessity for civilisation to survive and must be reached within less than a decade. Since traditional policies have failed, and the time pressure is extreme, new instruments for immediate reduction of consumption are required. We suggest that rationing of fossil fuel consumption is such a measure, capping the resource input to national economies while permitting trade between them. Nationally, new allocation mechanisms based in justice, resilience, and social sustainability are suggested.

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Citation
Joachim H. Spangenberg, 2022. Only Radical is Realistic Now: International Carbon Rationing in a Climate Emergency. Think Piece series, Hot or Cool Institute, Berlin.