The Truth of the Climate Crisis: [Part 2: Concrete Strategies] Share the Responsibility of Wealth and Capital. A Hybrid Strategy of "Direct Taxation" and "Indirect Benefit Taxation"

Note:

• (The following is a summary of a series of dialogues with Gemini.
  For details, please refer to the links on the original site.)

Original site (PC viewing recommended):

• [Dialogue: Gemini] How to Share Cumulative Responsibility (1)

• [Dialogue: Gemini] How to Share Cumulative Responsibility (2)

Previous article (Part 1):

[Part 2: Concrete Strategies] Share the Responsibility of Wealth and Capital. A Hybrid Strategy of "Direct Taxation" and "Indirect Benefit Taxation"

The core of the solution lies in "sharing"

In the first part, we saw that the "liquidation of cumulative responsibility (stock)" essential for solving the climate crisis is being blocked by the propaganda of vested interests. To break this structure and secure the necessary massive funds, there is no choice but to engage in "stock distribution".liquidation of cumulative responsibility (stock)is being blocked by the propaganda of vested interests. To break this structure and secure the necessary massive funds, there is no choice but to engage in stock distribution.

However, concentrating responsibility solely on the "companies most directly linked to emissions (dirty assets)" has limitations, as it "lacks fairness and results in insufficient funding." A true solution requires a "hybrid strategy" that fairly shares responsibility between both "direct emission responsibility" and "massive benefits indirectly obtained from the fossil fuel economy."companies most directly linked to emissions (dirty assets)only, has limitations, as it lacks fairness and results in insufficient funding. A true solution requires a direct emission responsibility and massive benefits indirectly obtained from the fossil fuel economy to both fairly share responsibility, which is a "hybrid strategy".

I. Core Responsibility: "Direct Taxation" on Dirty Assets

The first pillar of stock distribution is high-intensity "direct taxation" to ensure the "urgency" and "enforceability" of fundraising.urgency and enforceability to ensure high-intensity direct taxation.

1. Forced transition through Carbon Asset Tax

"Dirty assets" such as "unextracted reserves" held by fossil fuel companies and "carbon-intensive infrastructure" have benefited most directly from past pollution. We will introduce a "Carbon Asset Tax" that directly taxes the asset value (stock) of these items.unextracted reserves or carbon-intensive infrastructure, which are dirty assets, have benefited most directly from past pollution. We will introduce a "Carbon Asset Tax" that directly taxes the asset value (stock) of these items.

The primary purpose of this taxation is to secure a massive amount of funds immediately, and by forcing companies to bear asset holding costs, to compel the early sale or disposal (divestment) of dirty assets, thereby encouraging short-term portfolio transformation. This is the most powerful means to settle "past injustices" in one go.

▼ Related Articles (Realizing Dirty Asset Taxation):

II. Broad Responsibility: "Indirect Integration" into Cumulative Benefits

The second pillar of stock distribution is an approach that also makes the stocks of a wide range of industries that developed by benefiting from the fossil fuel economy share the responsibility.

1. Responsibility for Indirect Benefit Stocks

Industries such as automotive, machinery production, construction, logistics, and finance, which built competitive advantages and accumulated massive capital on top of the externalized costs of "cheap fossil fuel infrastructure," enjoy indirect "cheap fossil fuel infrastructure" and have accumulated massive capital. Failing to hold them accountable for these "pollution benefit stocks" greatly undermines fairness.

However, tracing back every transaction over the past several decades to strictly calculate the "cumulative benefit degree" is unrealistic. Therefore, we should adopt a sophisticated strategy that chooses "a democratically agreed-upon fair estimate rather than strict precision".

2. Designing Indirect Taxation Based on "Fossil Fuel Benefit Rate"

While utilizing existing tax systems, we will introduce a "Fossil Fuel Benefit Rate" as a correction factor for taxing corporate stocks. This uses accumulated wealth stocks (such as total asset value or cumulative profits) as the tax base and roughly reflects how much the company has benefited in the past.

Adaptability to Reality: By multiplying this benefit rate, we can achieve not just a simple "wealth tax", but a "cumulative degree of benefit"-based fair distribution of responsibility within a politically feasible range.

3. Realistic Mechanism: Integration into Existing Tax Systems

We will integrate this benefit rate into the strengthening of the following existing tax systems.

• Strengthening Progressive Corporate and Capital Taxation: Apply the benefit rate to taxes on stocks such as a company's total asset value or cumulative profits, and limit tax revenue to climate measures.

• High Taxation on Dividends and Share Buybacks: Impose high taxes that consider the benefit rate on the redistribution of capital (enjoyment of stocks), and recover funds from wealthy investors as well.

With this approach, we can avoid the technical stagnation associated with rigorous calculations while realizing a distribution of responsibility based on democratically agreed-upon fair standards.

▼ Related Article (Social Contract of Cumulative Benefit Circulation):

Conclusion: The Future Shown by the Hybrid Strategy

Direct taxation on dirty assets and incorporation into indirect cumulative benefits—this hybrid strategy is the most powerful path to balancing the scale of funding, urgency, and broad fairness in the distribution of responsibility.

How will the funds secured through this strategy protect our lives as citizens and help us reclaim our future? And what can we, as citizens, do to realize this revolutionary policy? This will be detailed in the next and final part.

(To be continued in the final part)

Related Video (Fossil Fuel Production Gap)

Japanese subtitles are available. (Subtitles -> Auto-translate -> Japanese + Subtitles ON)

• This is a report video on the "production gap"—the discrepancy between the amount of fossil fuel production planned by countries around the world and the levels required to meet climate goals as of 2025.

• It appears we are in a critical situation where, by 2030, the planned amount is more than double the level required to meet the goals. This indicates that current efforts based on NDCs (the accumulation of individual national efforts) are completely insufficient. (There is no doubt that an urgent review of the overall framework is necessary.)

• This should make it clear why taxation on dirty assets is necessary. Letting them off the hook simply because they "already exist" will certainly destroy the planet.

Summary by Gemini:

• Widening Production Gap: Despite governments worldwide committing to the Paris Agreement (1.5°C goal), the amount of fossil fuel production planned by 2030 is more than double what is needed to meet the goal, and this "production gap" continues to widen [00:24].

• Crisis of the Paris Agreement: This contradiction between production and goals jeopardizes the commitments of the Paris Agreement, making the reduction of fossil fuel production, demand management, and the transition to renewable energy more urgent and costly [00:40].

• Remaining Possibilities: The adoption of clean energy technology is progressing at an unprecedented speed, and achieving the 1.5°C goal is still possible by keeping fossil fuel production and use at the lowest possible level, but rapid action is required [01:26].

▶︎ Related Series Structure

• The Truth About the Climate Crisis: [Part 1: Warning] Climate change cannot be solved by "individual efforts." The truth about the structure that forces us to choose a "failing scenario"

• The Truth About the Climate Crisis: [Part 2: Concrete Strategies] Share the Responsibility of Wealth and Capital. A Hybrid Strategy of "Direct Taxation" and "Indirect Benefit Taxation" --- This article

• The Truth About the Climate Crisis: [Part 3: Execution] "Carbon Asset Tax" is Your Survival Strategy. How to Reclaim the Future from the Violence of Capital

> Original Site (PC viewing recommended):

• [Dialogue: Gemini] Methods for Sharing Cumulative Responsibility (1)

• [Dialogue: Gemini] Methods for Sharing Cumulative Responsibility (2)

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Finally...

▼ A Call for a "Quiet Revolution":