{"id":344,"date":"2026-08-29T18:07:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T16:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biosustainable.org\/?p=344"},"modified":"2026-08-29T18:07:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T16:07:03","slug":"why-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biosustainable.org\/?p=344","title":{"rendered":"Why Not?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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At COP29 in Baku, countries called on all actors to work together to scale climate finance for developing countries from public and private sources to at least $1.3 trillion per year by 2035.\u00b9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal did not end in Baku.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The COP29 and COP30 Presidencies developed the Baku to Bel\u00e9m Roadmap to 1.3T<\/em>.\u00b2 At COP30 in Bel\u00e9m, the Parties decided to urgently advance action to make that $1.3 trillion annual flow possible.\u00b3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Money on this scale is therefore already being contemplated at the highest level of international climate policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question is how capital on this scale can have the greatest effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This capital can finance action after environmental damage has occurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This capital can also give consumers and producers a financial interest in preventing environmental damage from occurring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prevention is less costly than repair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, pay consumers the Pilot’s Wage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pilot’s Wage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Homepage introduced the Pilot’s Wage: the consumer receives one third of the ecological value of a purchase as a reduction in the price paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The higher the ecological value of a product, the higher the Pilot’s Wage received by the consumer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consumer therefore acquires a financial interest in choosing products with the highest ecological value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can $1.3 trillion do?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Suppose $1.3 trillion were used to pay the Pilot’s Wage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Divided among 1.3 billion consumers, $1.3 trillion would provide $1,000 in Pilot’s Wage per consumer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pilot’s Wage is one third of the ecological value of the goods and services bought by the consumer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Pilot’s Wage of $1,000 therefore corresponds to $3,000 of ecological value in those purchases:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$1,000 \u00d7 3 = $3,000.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now take one consumer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suppose, merely as an example, that the ecological value of the goods and services bought by that consumer averages 12.5 percent of their production costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the consumer to buy goods and services containing $3,000 of ecological value, the consumer would spend $24,000:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$24,000 \u00d7 12.5% = $3,000.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pilot’s Wage would be one third of that ecological value:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$3,000 \u00f7 3 = $1,000.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consumer has therefore spent $24,000 and received $1,000 in Pilot’s Wage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now multiply the calculation by 1.3 billion consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paying 1.3 billion consumers $1,000 each in Pilot’s Wage would give them a financial interest in the ecological value of $31.2 trillion of purchases:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.3 billion \u00d7 $24,000 = $31.2 trillion.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The $1.3 trillion in Pilot’s Wage would not become $31.2 trillion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The $1.3 trillion would give 1.3 billion consumers a financial interest in the ecological value of the goods and services on which they spend $31.2 trillion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is the economic leverage created by the Pilot’s Wage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would that mean for the European Union?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The European Union has roughly 450 million inhabitants.\u2074<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the same illustration, providing $1,000 in Pilot’s Wage for 450 million people would require:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

450 million \u00d7 $1,000 = $450 billion.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those 450 million people, each spending $24,000 under the assumptions used above, would make purchasing choices involving:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

450 million \u00d7 $24,000 = $10.8 trillion.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A capital flow of $450 billion in Pilot’s Wage could therefore give consumers a direct financial interest in the ecological value of $10.8 trillion of purchases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comparison with another European expenditure shows that sums of this order are not beyond the scale of public action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the European Union and its Member States have mobilised more than \u20ac200 billion in support for Ukraine.\u2075<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purposes are entirely different. The comparison does not suggest that money for Ukraine should be transferred to the Pilot’s Wage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comparison demonstrates something simpler:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Europe considers an objective sufficiently important, Europe can mobilise capital measured in hundreds of billions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safeguarding the natural conditions on which Europe’s economy and population depend deserves financial action on the same scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Repair or prevent?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Money spent repairing environmental damage acts after the damage has occurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pilot’s Wage acts before the damage occurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paying the Pilot’s Wage makes preventing environmental damage financially attractive to both sides of the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COP29 and COP30 demonstrate that mobilising finance on the scale of $1.3 trillion a year is already an objective of international climate policy.\u00b9 \u00b2 \u00b3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question is therefore no longer whether capital on this scale can be contemplated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question is what we want that capital to accomplish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why spend money repairing environmental damage after the damage has occurred when capital on the same scale can give billions of consumers and producers a financial interest in preventing environmental damage?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do!<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Pay the Pilot’s Wage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give consumers a financial interest in choosing goods and services with the highest ecological value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give producers a financial interest in providing goods and services with the highest ecological value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use the financial flow created by billions of everyday purchases to guide the development of the economy towards living within the limits of Nature.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. COP29 \u2014 UNFCCC.<\/strong> Decision 1\/CMA.6 called on all actors to work together to enable the scaling up of financing for climate action in developing countries from public and private sources to at least $1.3 trillion per year by 2035.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. COP29\u2013COP30 \u2014 UNFCCC.<\/strong> Baku to Bel\u00e9m Roadmap to 1.3T.<\/em> COP29 launched the Roadmap under the guidance of the COP29 and COP30 Presidencies to advance the $1.3 trillion climate-finance objective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. COP30 \u2014 UNFCCC.<\/strong> At COP30, Parties decided to urgently advance actions to enable climate finance for developing countries from public and private sources to reach at least $1.3 trillion per year by 2035.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Eurostat.<\/strong> The population of the European Union was estimated at 452.0 million on 1 January 2026. The figure of 450 million used in the illustration is rounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. European Commission.<\/strong> Total EU support to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war exceeded \u20ac200 billion by August 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At COP29 in Baku, countries called on all actors to work together to scale climate finance for developing countries from public and private sources to at least $1.3 trillion per year by 2035.\u00b9 The goal did not end in Baku. The COP29 and COP30 Presidencies developed the Baku to Bel\u00e9m Roadmap to 1.3T.\u00b2 At COP30 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biosustainable.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biosustainable.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biosustainable.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biosustainable.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biosustainable.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=344"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/biosustainable.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349,"href":"https:\/\/biosustainable.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions\/349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biosustainable.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biosustainable.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biosustainable.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}