How do cap and trade taxes affect the climate?
Show changes in climate caused by carbon taxes and offsets and their costs to date.
Show changes in climate caused by carbon taxes and offsets and their costs to date.
In all likelihood cap and trade won’t actually do anything to prevent global warming as any such programme would be so full of loopholes that it won’t actually end up reducing CO? emissions (Sulphur oxide cap and trade only worked because it was new then and so people hadn’t figured out how to create the loopholes).
Of course it will increase the cost of most things you buy, with the money going towards shareholders and directors of the politically connected companies who were able to rig the system so they profit from the cap and trade.
A carbon tax is much less corruptible (being that loopholes are much more obvious than with cap and trade) and can also result in the money that is paid by the people for emitting the CO? returned to the people (either through direct payments or reduction of other taxes) instead of going to a large company.
I can’t show you that until the cap and trade program (which is distinctly different form a tax, by the way), takes effect.
But if you look up cap and trade on sulfur dioxide, another harmful bi product of the energy industry that is responsible for acid rain, you’ll see it worked for that.
It wont only your wallet .
Cap & Trade is designed to tax you more for using CO2 which isn’t proved to make any difference to climate. Remember CO2 has risen steadily for the past two hundred years but temperatures have been flat and reduced many times even although CO2 has steadily increased?!?!?!?
It is a money making power grab.
The theory is that by setting a price for pollution of the atmosphere, polluters will be encouraged to pollute less as it costs them money. Currently they can dump all they want into the atmosphere and let others worry about the eventual costs. So whether that cost is set via a cap and trade system, a carbon tax or however, the idea behind it is the same, if there is a cost attached people will try to avoid it.
Say I produce 100 tonnes of CO2 a year because I use a coal fire to keep my house boiling hot, and because I couldn’t be bothered to put in any insulation. Coal is cheap. Now suddenly there is a cost attached to dumping CO2 into the atmosphere. oops, I’m going to be paying heaps… I now have choices to make: I could insulate my home, save on fuel costs and carbon costs. I could convert my coal fired furnace to gas, pay a bit more for fuel but save on carbon costs, I could choose to wear warmer clothes and turn the temperature down a degree or two to save fuel and carbon costs, I could move house etc. I could do several of those things.
The assumption is that people really only take action when it affects their finances. By putting a price on carbon pollution it encourages people to reduce their emissions.
This is an economic/social theory, not science, so not easy to predict with accuracy what will really happen. The results also depend on just what the price of carbon pollution ends up at, if too low, expect minimal change, if too high expect economic mayhem. Also the mechanism used to set the price has an effect, is it a tax? is it a market derived price as in cap and trade? Lots of variables.
A point to note, the idea of putting a price on carbon pollution is that it is better for the market to determine how to avoid paying it rather than the government intervening and selecting any particular set of technologies. The thought is that we don’t yet know what will work best so better to leave that open. Let the most economic solution win.
They don’t they’re just a feel good (and poor) product like planting a tree to offset your carbon footprint.
Just a Global Tax on America !
It IS a tax. If things get more expensive then that is inflation and inflation is most definitely a stealth tax.
The sad truth is that actually the Earth and life are crying out for more co2, it is after all the limiting factor for plant growth. I think we’re at the point now where whatever you hear in the media the opposite is the truth.