Proposals for the Ecological and Thermodynamic Reformation of the Monetary System
Context
Michel Foata-Prestavoine in his proposal for Common Good Units, i.e. "Unités de Bien Commun (UBiC)" , refers to two prior proposals for monetary reform going in the same direction, namely:
1. Couppey-Soubeyran, J., Delandre, P., & Sersiron, A. (2024). Le pouvoir de la monnaie : Transformons la monnaie pour transformer la société. Les Liens qui libèrent.
2. Grandjean, A., & Dufrêne, N. (2020). Une monnaie écologique : Pour sauver la planète. Odile Jacob.
I asked ChatGPT to compare and contrast the respective propsosals
Discussion
General Overview Comparison
ChatGPT:
Here’s a summary of the two books you mentioned, focusing on their proposals for reforming money with ecological and thermodynamic realities in mind.
1. Une monnaie écologique
Pour sauver la planète by Alain Grandjean & Nicolas Dufrêne (2020)
Main thrust: The authors argue that the urgency of climate change and ecological degradation faces a financing impasse, because traditional monetary and financial systems are structured around profit-seeking private capital and debt-based creation of money — neither suited for the large-scale, long-term, non-profitable investments required for ecological transition.
Key proposals:
They challenge the dogma of monetary “neutrality”, arguing that monetary policy can and should be used actively to finance ecological transition.
They propose that central banks and states could use money creation for “green” investments, rather than only relying on private credit. For example, creating money without debt (“monnaie libre” or non-debt-backed) to channel into ecological projects.
They suggest a reconception of money as a common good rather than purely as a commodity or debt instrument, thereby enabling democratic control and re-orientation to ecological ends.
Broader context: The book situates its argument in historical precedent (e.g., wartime/post-war monetary expansion, New Deal) to show that large-scale monetary intervention is possible when societies deem it necessary.
2. Le pouvoir de la monnaie
Transformons la monnaie pour transformer la société by Jézabel Couppey‑Soubeyran, Pierre Delandre & Augustin Sersiron (2024)
Main thrust: This book builds on the insight that monetary forms are historically contingent (i.e., the shape and functions of money change with social and economic transformations). In view of the twin ecological and social crisis, the authors argue that a monetary bifurcation (i.e., a fundamental re-design of money) is required to support the transition to a sustainable society.
Key proposals:
They propose the creation of a “monnaie volontaire” (voluntary currency) designed to finance ecological and social investments that are not financially profitable. That is, money created outside the debt/credit mechanism and used as targeted subventions to fund transition investments.
They emphasise that the standard banking-system money (created via credit by private banks) is structured to reward profit, not to fund non-profitable but socially/ecologically necessary investments. Hence the current system is misaligned with the transition challenge.
Institutional and governance dimensions matter: they discuss how such a reform would require rethinking the role of the central bank, democratic control of monetary creation, and mechanisms to avoid inflation or financial destabilisation.
Broader context: The authors view this as one pillar of a broader social-ecological transformation. They engage with anthropological, historical and sociological dimensions of money to argue that money is not just a technical tool but a social institution.
Both works share the view that money is not neutral and that its creation and structure matter for what gets financed.
Both emphasize that ecological transition requires large-scale investments which are often not profitable under current financial logic, hence a monetary reform is needed.
The earlier book (2020) by Grandjean & Dufrêne emphasises re-oriented monetary policy and the status of money as common good; the later book (2024) by Couppey-Soubeyran et al. goes further into a structural reform: a new currency around subventions, outside debt logic.
The 2024 book frames the reform in terms of a “bifurcation monétaire” (monetary bifurcation) – pointing to a deeper systemic shift rather than incremental adjustment."
Specific Policy Proposals - Comparison
ChatGPT:
From Une monnaie écologique
Pour sauver la planète (Grandjean & Dufrêne, 2020)
Monetary creation for ecological investment: The authors argue that central banks and monetary authorities should create new money (not just via credit) to finance large-scale ecological transition projects (e.g., green infrastructure) rather than leaving this solely to private finance.
Rejecting monetary neutrality: They propose abandoning the doctrine that monetary policy is “neutral” with respect to structural outcomes; instead, money can be oriented deliberately towards decarbonisation and resource-efficient transition.
Conversion of public debt into green investment: One mechanism is to convert debt held by the central bank (or public sector) into green or transition-oriented investment, thus freeing up financial capacity for ecological action.
Designing money as a common good: They propose redefining money as a “bien commun” (common good) rather than purely a financial instrument, thereby enabling democratic governance over its creation and use in line with ecological limits and social goals.
Aligning monetary flows with thermodynamic/physical realities: While less explicitly formulaic, they stress that existing monetary-financial systems ignore energy/resource/entropy constraints; the reform means money must be connected to real physical flows (e.g., energy, materials) and ecological limits to avoid promoting unsustainable growth.
From Le pouvoir de la monnaie
Transformons la monnaie pour transformer la société (Couppey-Soubeyran, Delandre & Sersiron, 2024)
Creation of a “monnaie volontaire” (voluntary currency): They propose a new separate currency, issued outside the debt-credit banking logic, targeted to finance ecological and social investments that are non-profitable but necessary for the transition.
Emission without debt, with anti-inflation devices: This new currency would be created without requiring a debt-based counterparty, but would include mechanisms to avoid inflation and to coexist alongside existing money, thus respecting monetary/physical stability.
A governance structure for regional distribution: They propose a European (or multilevel) “Caisse Européenne de Développement Durable” (CEDD) and regional entities that would distribute the new currency to projects selected locally, aligning monetary issuance with place-based ecological transition.
Monetary reform embedded in social-ecological bifurcation: The currency reform is not a technical tweak but part of a broader systemic shift (“bifurcation”) in how economy, society and ecology connect; money becomes a lever for thermodynamic realism (i.e., recognizing resource limits, entropy, the physical cost of transformation).
Complementarity with banking money: Rather than replacing bank-credit money, the proposal is for the new currency to complement it—so the system can continue to operate but with an added dimension that finances truly “non-profitable but necessary” ecological investments.
Brief comparison & thermodynamic/ecological angle
Both books recognise that our current monetary/financial system tends to favour profitable (often growth or extraction-oriented) investments, and thus is ill-suited to ecological transition which often requires low-profit, long-term, resource-intensive projects.
The reform mechanisms both propose engage with physical reality (energy, materials, ecological limits) by redirecting money away from purely financial circuits and into real-world transitions.
The 2024 book goes further in institutional design (new currency, governance, regional distribution) and explicitly frames monetary change as necessary for ecological-thermodynamic transformation (e.g., acknowledging that you cannot decouple finance from physical limits).
The 2020 book lays more foundation in terms of conceptual framing (money as common good, monetary–ecological link) and providing a set of tools rather than a full institutional architecture."
Table
Comparative Table of Policy Proposals
Via ChatGPT:
| Mechanism | Objective | Link to Ecological / Thermodynamic Reality | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creation of debt-free money | Finance non-profitable ecological projects | Allows investment in necessary transitions without increasing public debt | Editions Les Liens qui libèrent |
| Voluntary currency | Create a dedicated currency for ecological transition | Provides an alternative to traditional bank money, directed to sustainable projects | Editions Les Liens qui libèrent |
| Local governance of the currency | Involve territories in selecting projects to be funded | Ensures investments meet local needs and respect ecological limits | Editions Les Liens qui libèrent |
| Anti-inflation measures | Maintain monetary stability while funding the transition | Includes mechanisms to prevent inflation while enabling targeted money creation | Editions Les Liens qui libèrent |
| Conversion of public debt into green investments | Free resources for ecological transition | Transforms part of public debt into funding for ecological projects | Editions Les Liens qui libèrent |