The best climate policy is to have as few children as possible?
The discourse on climate change often highlights that a smaller population implies less environmental burden, which leads to the suggestion that reducing the birth rate is a viable climate protection strategy. However, the article points out that population decline and aging actually hinder the green transition, rather than facilitating it, by weakening the economic, technological, and social conditions that are essential for achieving climate neutrality.
The assumption that a smaller population implies less environmental burden is a long-standing and self-evident one in discussions about climate change. Based on this logic, limiting births has also periodically been proposed as a climate protection measure. In my article, I argue that population decline and aging do not make a green transition easier, but rather weaken the economic, technological, and social conditions that are necessary for achieving climate neutrality.
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