Economics
The social science of creating, distributing and consuming goods and services. Economists study individual decisions and whole systems to explain patterns of wealth, efficiency and fairness.
What would you do?
- Collect and clean datasets on inflation, wages and more
- Analyze consumer and business behavior
- Compare cost strategies for companies
- Forecast trends, like climate change’s effect on the economy
- Write reports for governments, think tanks and international organizations
To fight climate change, economists…
Put a price on carbon
Design carbon taxes and set the right emission limits.
Drive innovation
Design clean-energy tax credits and show how solar and wind cut power costs.
Shape climate agreements
Model how global deals affect trade, growth and emissions.
Make businesses sustainable
Find emission cuts that also save money, and prepare firms for carbon pricing.
Relationship to climate change
Economics is key to incentivizing sustainable decisions and creating sustainable societies.
Use economics for these Project Drawdown solutions:
- Abandoned Farmland
- Advanced Biofuels
- Agrivoltaics
- Agroforestry
- Airplane Contrails
- Alternative Insulation Materials
- Alternative Refrigerants
- Annual Cropping
- Appliance & Equipment Efficiency
- Aquaculture
- Aviation Efficiency
- Bio Blocks
- More solutions →
Featured expert
Anton Cartwright
Founder and Director of Credible Carbon, South Africa’s first voluntary carbon market registry, and the consultancy Econologic. A Lead Author of the IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C, which popularized the goal of net zero by 2050.
View his profile →
Get started
A great fit if you enjoy problem solving, data and patterns, weighing pros and cons, and understanding how societies work.
Recommended classes
High school: AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics, AP Calculus, Statistics, Computer Science, English, AP Seminar and AP Research (helpful)
Project ideas
- Study how climate policies affected local businesses
- Survey how your community responds to green incentives
- Price out switching your school or home to renewables
- Model how solar or EVs save households money
- Get involved with your city on climate policy
More resources
- Economists (BLS)
- Climate change could become a global economic disaster
- How much will climate change drag down the economy?
- An economic solution to climate change that could save trillions
- How have economists thought about climate change?
Written by Aiden Miao, Palo Alto High School (2027)
