Fiscal Policy Is Climate Policy: How Curbing Corporate Power Can Address the Climate Crisis

The federal government has invested more than $3 trillion in stimulus measures to mitigate the COVID-19 emergency. But while the initial rounds of relief were instrumental in staving off the most disastrous effects of the pandemic, they failed to meaningfully constrain the power of large corporations, many of which fuel the climate crisis.

As argued in A Green Recovery: The Case for Climate-Forward Stimulus Policies in America’s COVID-19 Recession Response, all fiscal policy is climate policy. Even legislation that does not explicitly address climate change has the potential to dramatically impact emission levels, environmental health, and the structure of many key sectors of our economy—including fossil fuels.