"First, most billionaires don't just have billions in cash laying around usable to buy things. ... The economic loss from this step would be huge."
There would be no economic loss. In real terms, the companies that the billionaires are selling are just as valuable. The sellers might be big enough to cause the paper value to go down temporarily, but it would only hurt the sellers themselves. And obviously, in nominal terms the cash would enter right back into the economy once the coal was purchased. So there would be near-zero negative impact to the overall economy from the asset sales.
"This puts the value of the US coal around 20 trillion (ignoring a few factors like present value, etc., but this is around the total value). To purchase the land right from owners would cost somewhere around this amount, give or take an order of magnitude."
It's hard to get exact numbers, but the total value of US coal is many many times higher than the value of just the mineral rights. The legal right to mine $50 worth of coal is obviously worth way, way less than $50. In other words, you can wipe out a huge amount of coal usage with smartly bought mineral rights, especially, like the story alludes to, if you buy them in such a way as to be inconvinient to everyone around you.
I think the basic idea is sound. The main problem would be that such a solution would be profoundly regressive. Western billionaires literally plunging poor people into darkness. It's probably not a bad plan B if an international political solution fails and things get very dire.
There would be no economic loss. In real terms, the companies that the billionaires are selling are just as valuable. The sellers might be big enough to cause the paper value to go down temporarily, but it would only hurt the sellers themselves. And obviously, in nominal terms the cash would enter right back into the economy once the coal was purchased. So there would be near-zero negative impact to the overall economy from the asset sales.
"This puts the value of the US coal around 20 trillion (ignoring a few factors like present value, etc., but this is around the total value). To purchase the land right from owners would cost somewhere around this amount, give or take an order of magnitude."
It's hard to get exact numbers, but the total value of US coal is many many times higher than the value of just the mineral rights. The legal right to mine $50 worth of coal is obviously worth way, way less than $50. In other words, you can wipe out a huge amount of coal usage with smartly bought mineral rights, especially, like the story alludes to, if you buy them in such a way as to be inconvinient to everyone around you.
I think the basic idea is sound. The main problem would be that such a solution would be profoundly regressive. Western billionaires literally plunging poor people into darkness. It's probably not a bad plan B if an international political solution fails and things get very dire.