Long before climate change became a mainstream concern, economist William D. Nordhaus identified a tax on pollution as one of the most effective ways to address human-caused global warming. He argued that putting a price on carbon dioxide emissions would encourage reductions in planet-warming pollution while avoiding severe economic harm.
Nordhaus, who died Friday at 85, spent much of his career developing and defending that approach. His research helped shape government policies in countries around the world, and he shared the Nobel Prize in economics in 2018.
The proposal also drew strong opposition. Fossil fuel companies, which would have faced higher costs under the system Nordhaus advocated, campaigned against carbon taxes and commissioned reports challenging them. The broader anti-tax movement added to the political resistance.
Gilbert E. Metcalf, an emeritus economics professor at Tufts University, said economists had underestimated the strength of the political interests opposing climate policy. In his view, the fossil fuel industry used its financial resources effectively to prevent progress.
Nordhaus joined Yale University’s faculty in 1967 and began studying the effects of a warming planet on economic growth during the 1970s, when climate change received comparatively little public attention.
Sources: The New York Times Business.