Finance to the rescue of the climate? Nature between price and value.

Summary The financial and environmental crisis are usually handled in different academic, expertise and public decision networks. This separation has become untenable in the age of the Anthropocene. In fact, no ambitious climate agreement can be achieved without first finding an answer to the question of how to finance the transition towards a decarbonized society. In this text, we further develop the reasons for which these two fields should be considered as a single unit. To this end, we go back to the fundamental difference between the price of carbon and the social value of carbon. The belief that the two can be equated through simple market mechanisms has been a failure. An external force is necessary to reduce the difference between the two. In the case of climate change, it takes the form of the IPCC’s results and the political commitment to keep the temperature increase below 2°C compared to its pre-industrial levels. New forms of climate policies emerge from this analysis, which now incorporate all financial actors toward this goal.