carbon tax posts, articles, and infographics

Everyone on the planet helps subsidise fossil fuels by £45 per year

May 9, 2012 by David Thorpe
with 199 views

NASA's James Hansen Fossil fuel companies get between $400 and $500 billion in subsidies per year. This must end. The first major scientist to alert the world to the dangers of climate change, NASA's James Hansen, has issued a new challenge to the world based on the latest science surrounding the issue. In a new paper... [read more]

Here comes the sun... not!

April 9, 2012 by Marc Gunther
with 1,263 views

Germany, once the world’s leading market for solar power, is pulling back its subsidies.Q Cells, once the world’s largest solar company, just went bankrupt.This isn’t happy news. If the country that birthed the Green Party cannot sustain its support for solar, what does that tell the rest of us?It should tell us that it’s time (actually... [read more]

South Africa to Introduce Carbon Tax in 2013

March 13, 2012 by Jake Schmidt
with 314 views

South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced in his budget speech that a carbon tax will be implemented in the next financial year that runs from 2013-2014. The proposal is to implement the carbon tax at a fairly low level, and then define an increasing price path over time. It is a cautious approach but this is... [read more]

Interviewing Tom Friedman On The Urgency of Climate Action

March 6, 2012 by Joseph Romm
with 588 views

Friedman: “I’ve never been more concerned about climate change than I am now….” Tom Friedman had another good NY Times column Sunday on climate and clean energy, “Take the Subway.” The gist of it was that because of the urgency of climate change, we need to start aggressively deploying clean energy ASAP. I interviewed him about his... [read more]

2 Steps Forward, 1 Step Back on Carbon Pricing

January 17, 2012 by David Hone
with 133 views

2011 turned out to be a busy year for the development of carbon pricing. Long the cornerstone of EU climate policy, the approach continues to find favour with governments focused on the issue of managing emissions, rather than those trying to manage the shape of the entire energy mix. [read more]

Airline Griping Over EU Aviation Carbon Tax Isn’t About The Consumer

January 16, 2012 by Tyler Hamilton
with 131 views

Here’s my take on the EU aviation carbon tax that is causing a stink with major world airline carriers: ———————————————— Tyler Hamilton My family flew to North Carolina during the holiday to visit relatives and, being aware of new baggage fees, we made every effort to pack lightly. Of two adults and two children we had only one item to... [read more]

Audio & Slides: "How to Save a Planet On a Budget" Part 1 - Carbon Markets

December 19, 2011 by Amelia Timbers
with 439 views

Welcome to the audio archive & slides for the first chunk of our green finance summit "How To Save The Planet on A Budget". This first session focuses on carbon: 1. Carbon: Pricing It, Taxing It + Trading It, Moderated by Gernot Wagner Featuring: Janet Peace, Lee Thiessen, Lucas Merrill Brown [read more]

Leadership By China is The Best Chance For Successful Climate Treaty

November 30, 2011 by Jim Pierobon
with 164 views

As the next round of international negotiations about a possible climate change treaty — the 17th to be exact since the Kyoto Treaty was signed in 1992 — get up to speed in Durban, South Africa, it’s becoming increasingly clear that an environmental emergency stands the best chance of compelling industrialized countries to act. That’s because nothing else will. [read more]

Free Market Perspective Dominates The Climate Policy Debate

November 15, 2011 by John Wilson
with 521 views

As Grist’s David Roberts might remind us, Bob Inglis’ recent climate change commentaries are a throwback to an era when policy and appeals to self interest had a role in national politics. A year after reasoned debate abruptly surrendered to unhinged anti-environmental sentiment, Bob Inglis’ perspective is barely heard by the most vocal members of his Republican party, for whom “policy [is] merely an instrument to reinforce the status quo and punish out-groups.” [read more]

It's Carbon Tax Time!

November 10, 2011 by Marc Gunther
with 485 views

“I was a huge supporter of cap and trade,” said Wayne Leonard, the CEO of Entergy, a $11 billion utility company. “We developed enormously elegant solutions, but they couldn’t get done.” Taxing carbon emissions is the next best way to deal with the threat of global climate disruptions, he said, in part because it would give the energy... [read more]

A Carbon Price for Australia - Finally!!

November 9, 2011 by David Hone
with 234 views

Depending on your take on events the toll has been as high as two Prime Ministers and one Leader of the Opposition, but Australia now has a carbon pricing mechanism operating in the economy (I say “now” in that even though it doesn’t formally start until July, the price exposure for companies was there the instant the law was officially passed). There does remain some uncertainty given the “blood oath” made by the current Opposition Leader to repeal the law, but at least for now the business playing field in Australia has changed. [read more]

350 PPM C02 Is No Longer Achievable

November 7, 2011 by Jim Pierobon
with 523 views

Here’s one slice of irony from today’s protest against TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline surrounding the White House: actually reducing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere from about 389 parts per million (ppm) currently to the widely-held threshold of 350 ppm is no longer possible. The combined impacts, to... [read more]

Carbon Smoke and Mirrors – The Reality of Emissions Reduction Plans

August 2, 2011 by Barry Brook
with 273 views

When it comes to energy and carbon emissions reduction, the devil is always in the detail. So too with Australia’s plans to cut its emissions by five per cent below year 2000 levels by 2020. But first, let’s look at the big picture. Why we need to do this As a scientist who researches the impacts of climate change on... [read more]

The Problem with a Carbon Tax

July 30, 2011 by Michael Tobis
with 385 views

Fuel is a luxury, sometimes. And sometimes it is a necessity.If we rely entirely on a "price" on carbon, and carbon remains fungible, what happens?Well, in a sense we already know. We in the US have encouraged the use of farmland to produce corn to produce ethanol. This notoriously contributes to the rise in prices of the coarsest,... [read more]

Carbon Politics in Oz: A Peek Behind The Curtain

July 14, 2011 by David Lewis
with 343 views

Australia's action to put a price on carbon cheered me up a bit. A brief study of the political tea leaves quickly destroyed the feeling. Consider this aggregation of Oz political poll data plotted over the time period since the government that is proposing this climate action now was elected: ... [read more]