According to Gernot Wagner, a climate economist at Columbia Business School, there are the two primary avenues cities have long used to raise revenue for particular investments: increasing the budget by raising taxes, or borrowing money through issuing municipal bonds.
What’s new, Wagner said, is politicians having the “gumption to come out and say we want to do something about climate change. And in order for us to act, we need to raise the funds. And then very directly calling it a climate tax, or a green fund, or a climate bond, or a green bond.”
If political conditions in the United States and elsewhere require a rebranding of technologies formerly known as “climate tech,” so be it. The larger economic, technological, and geopolitical forces propelling everyone toward cleaner energy remain as strong as ever.
