A Price on Carbon: It Will Work Because It Doesn’t Change Everything

September 15, 2015

A Price on Carbon: It Will Work Because It Doesn’t Change Everything

Posted on my new blog, Patterns of Meaning…

Patterns of Meaning

Less than three months to go before the COP21 climate conference in Paris, and the emissions targets submitted by countries – the basis for a new global climate treaty – are grossly insufficient. This chart says it all. The blue shows current policy projections; the pink shows the aggregate emissions targets submitted so far – a slight improvement. The green shows what we need to stay within a 2°C rise in temperatures – in itself barely enough to avoid catastrophic climate change, but depressingly far from the current targets.

Put A Price On Carbon

What can be done? I’m convinced that the most effective way to avert global disaster is to put a global price on carbon. We live in a global market economy, and a global price on carbon (starting at say $15/ton then rising steadily) would have an immediate and far-reaching effect on everything else: consumer choices, investment  in renewable energy, fossil…

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