This video, which is part 3 of a 4 part series of videos which features in-depth presentations and dialogue from the 2025 London Climate Week done in collaboration with The MEER Organization. This session features economist Steve Keen delivering a powerful and often scathing critique of the way mainstream economics approaches climate change. Drawing on decades of research and his deep familiarity with both economic modeling and climate science, Keen contrasts the cautious, data-driven warnings from scientists with the overly-optimistic—and, in his view, deeply flawed—projections from leading economists like William Nordhaus.
This video was recorded on June 23rd, 2025, and published on August 10th, 2025, and represents the opinions of the discussion participants.
Steve explains how widely-cited economic models grossly underestimate the potential damage of global warming, sometimes treating scenarios of 5–7°C of warming—levels scientists deem catastrophic or even existential—as little more than minor slowdowns in economic growth. Through vivid examples and biting humor, Keen exposes the faulty assumptions, selective reading of climate science, and methodological shortcuts that underpin these models.
A significant portion of the talk is dedicated to unpacking the history and significance of The Limits to Growth study, and how its warnings about exponential growth and resource depletion were dismissed by the economics establishment. Keen recounts how Nordhaus and others replaced carefully calibrated system dynamics models with simplistic growth equations based on hunches, omitting critical inputs from nature and ignoring the structural changes climate disruption would unleash. He also dissects the now-common assumption in economic modeling that spatial climate variations today can be projected forward in time—a methodological error that, he argues, erases the reality of unprecedented and irreversible climate shifts. Throughout, Keen drives home how these errors lead policymakers and the public to dangerously underestimate the urgency of the crisis.
In his closing, Keen turns to the real risks we face—from AMOC collapse to rapid ice sheet loss—and the necessity of geoengineering and systemic economic measures to prevent societal breakdown. He warns of scenarios like European glaciation, deadly wet-bulb heat events, and food insecurity in import-dependent nations, advocating for rationing, income redistribution, and cooperative global action. Seeing mainstream economics as a barrier, not a guide, he embraces initiatives like the MEER proposal as pragmatic steps toward planetary survival. The result is an urgent, uncompromising call to replace dangerous economic complacency with realistic, science-based climate policy before it’s too late.
Professor Steve Keen - is a renowned economist and author, celebrated for his incisive critiques of mainstream economic theory and his pioneering research on financial instability, money creation, and systemic risk. Ranked among the world’s most influential economists, Prof. Keen is the creator of the open-source modeling platform Minsky and the business analytics suite Ravel. Formerly a professor at Kingston University London and the University of Western Sydney, he is best known for his books “Debunking Economics” and his advocacy for integrating scientific and real-world constraints into economic policy—particularly on climate change.
MEER (Mirrors for Earth’s Energy Rebalancing) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to combating climate change by developing practical, scalable solutions for heat adaptation and climate mitigation. Using innovative surface reflection technology, MEER aims to reduce local and global temperatures and restore Earth’s energy balance—helping protect people, ecosystems, and communities worldwide.
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