When I talk to fellow economists about fossil fuels and climate change, they sound pretty reasonable. They know that high per-capita GDP is awesome. They know that high per-capita GDP requires a lot of energy. They know that we get almost all of our energy from fossil fuels. They know that solar and wind are currently a grossly inadequate substitute for fossil fuels. But they’re still deeply worried about carbon-fueled climate change, especially extreme tail risk.
What, then, is to be done?