Tax the CO2
"The problem of climate change involves a fundamental failure of markets: those who damage others by emitting greenhouse gasses generally do not pay," said Sir Nicholas, the President of the British Academy (Benjamin, 2007). The economic activities conducted by developed countries produce a lot of greenhouse gasses, especially CO2, which directly lead to climate change, such as global warming. However, the impacts of high emission don’t fall on these countries. According to the report from the Center for Global Development (2015), the developed countries are responsible for 79% of global CO2 emission. In contrast, the developing countries suffer most from the impacts of global warming: in the last 25 years, 95% of fatalities from …show more content…
Taking Germany as an example, in 2003, after the gradual implementation of the carbon tax, the emission of CO2 is reduced by 2.4%, which is 20 million tons of CO2. The implementation of the carbon tax also increases the number of jobs by 250,000, “mostly in sectors with intensive labor and in the sector of energy-saving technologies production” (Biomassa.de, …show more content…
According to the Carbon Trust (2009), the tax won’t be set at a certain level, but “will be determined by the politics of large-scale revenue transfers”, which means that the rate of the carbon tax can be separately negotiated with different industries. Its negotiability causes the potential for corruption. For example, in the U.S., the government recommends $12 to $129 for every ton of CO2. However, a study by Tufts economist Gilbert Metcalf shows that “just $15 per ton would cut domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 14 percent”, meeting the goal set by the U.N. (Village Voice, 2016). If $15 per ton is enough, why do some industries pay $12 per ton while some pay $129? To solve this potential problem, the governments should not only establish a powerful supervision system but also encourage the third-parties without a direct interest to provide supervision. These third-parties could be the non-governmental organizations or even the ordinary people. The public supervision and the government supervision will ensure the impartiality of implementation.
Maybe the implementation of the carbon tax could bring some negative results, but overall it remarkably helps to develop sustainability by reducing the CO2 emission and drives the progress of the low-carbon
"The problem of climate change involves a fundamental failure of markets: those who damage others by emitting greenhouse gasses generally do not pay," said Sir Nicholas, the President of the British Academy (Benjamin, 2007). The economic activities conducted by developed countries produce a lot of greenhouse gasses, especially CO2, which directly lead to climate change, such as global warming. However, the impacts of high emission don’t fall on these countries. According to the report from the Center for Global Development (2015), the developed countries are responsible for 79% of global CO2 emission. In contrast, the developing countries suffer most from the impacts of global warming: in the last 25 years, 95% of fatalities from …show more content…
Taking Germany as an example, in 2003, after the gradual implementation of the carbon tax, the emission of CO2 is reduced by 2.4%, which is 20 million tons of CO2. The implementation of the carbon tax also increases the number of jobs by 250,000, “mostly in sectors with intensive labor and in the sector of energy-saving technologies production” (Biomassa.de, …show more content…
According to the Carbon Trust (2009), the tax won’t be set at a certain level, but “will be determined by the politics of large-scale revenue transfers”, which means that the rate of the carbon tax can be separately negotiated with different industries. Its negotiability causes the potential for corruption. For example, in the U.S., the government recommends $12 to $129 for every ton of CO2. However, a study by Tufts economist Gilbert Metcalf shows that “just $15 per ton would cut domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 14 percent”, meeting the goal set by the U.N. (Village Voice, 2016). If $15 per ton is enough, why do some industries pay $12 per ton while some pay $129? To solve this potential problem, the governments should not only establish a powerful supervision system but also encourage the third-parties without a direct interest to provide supervision. These third-parties could be the non-governmental organizations or even the ordinary people. The public supervision and the government supervision will ensure the impartiality of implementation.
Maybe the implementation of the carbon tax could bring some negative results, but overall it remarkably helps to develop sustainability by reducing the CO2 emission and drives the progress of the low-carbon