The Independent covered a new research paper co-authored by Stuart Jenkins, Margriet Kuijper, Hugh Helferty, Cécile Girardin, and Myles Allen, models the application of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) to fossil fuels. Published in Environmental Research Letters, the paper concludes that compelling fossil fuel producers to pay for carbon cleanup could end these fuels’ contribution to global warming without pitting climate action against meeting society’s energy needs—at a relatively affordable cost.

From the article:

Requiring fossil fuel companies to pay to clean up their carbon emissions could help curb dangerous global warming at a relatively affordable cost, a study says.

The approach, which holds producers responsible for the waste generated by the products they sell, already exists in other areas such as plastic packaging or electrical goods.

It can even be compared to the water sector, where companies have to invest in and consumers pay for the treatment and disposal of waste water.

The full article can be accessed here.

To access the paper and learn more about the research, click here.