Key to Averting Climate Tipping Points?

Global Carbon Reward (GCR), in partnership with Inquiring Systems, Inc., today announced the publication of a groundbreaking paper by Dr. Delton B. Chen that introduces the world’s first integrated economic framework for pricing carbon through both penalties and rewards, offering a credible pathway to meet the Paris Agreement goals and avert catastrophic climate tipping points.

“…Delton’s work with the Global Carbon Reward provides the kind of mechanism that we need to mobilize capital at the scale that is needed to decarbonize,” said economist Dr.

Eban Goodstein.

The research, released ahead of the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, extends traditional climate economics by introducing a “carbon reward” mechanism that mobilizes central banks in the fight against global warming. It redefines how policymakers can address climate damages and systemic risks as distinct yet interconnected challenges, moving beyond the neoclassical theory that has shaped climate policy since the early 1990s.

“This framework treats political gridlock and climate tipping points as systemic risks that central banks can—and must—help manage,” said Dr. Chen. “It’s a turning point in

economics and central banking.”

Chen’s real-world policy was popularized in 2020 as the “carbon coin” in Kim Stanley Robinson’s acclaimed novel The Ministry for the Future. The policy is now underpinned with economic justifications and scientific clarity.

New Economics for Fixing a Gridlocked System

Dr. Chen’s paper offers a potential breakthrough in climate policy by describing a full spectrum of climate damages, systemic risks, and market responses, while identifying missing concepts essential to managing global climate risk. The framework employs a layered “carrot and stick” approach to resolve political inertia and accelerate global decarbonization.

The carbon reward policy is the central innovation of the research: an international incentive that pays for verified mitigation using debt-free finance derived from private investment and central bank guarantees. Chen argues that the approach could dissolve political gridlock and unlock between $5 trillion and $10 trillion annually without burdening governments, firms, or taxpayers.

The policy’s most notable features include:

• Central Bank Carbon Mandate: Calls for central banks to guarantee a minimum price for mitigated carbon, supporting an international carbon reward market.
• Orderly Energy Transition: Introduces an “energy asset exchange” mechanism to replace fossil fuels with clean energy and without stranding existing energy assets.
• Debt-Free Decarbonization: Provides a positive-sum system to stimulate mitigation, reduce global debt stress, and move beyond zero-sum carbon offsetting.

“The next steps are to invite a peer review of the policy and convene a ‘climate club’ of nations to conduct urgently needed feasibility studies and pilot programs,” Chen added.

Chen’s working paper has been published openly through Zenodo, the open-access research repository operated by CERN.

Bard MBA, Working Paper 25:3: Click Here. 

Permalink to the paper: Click Here. 

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