Letter to the Editor The Washington Post Published May 9, 2013 Regarding the May 6 front-page article “Europe’s carbon market goes bust”: In evaluating Europe’s cap-and-trade system, it’s important to distinguish means (a carbon price) from ends (carbon reductions). Europe’s …
Greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced most cost-effectively through market-based approaches that put a price on carbon. The two most commonly discussed approaches are a cap-and-trade system and a carbon tax. By establishing a price for greenhouse gas emissions, either …
Summary Used by governments for decades, market-based policies are mechanisms to control environmental pollution at various leverage points. They work by changing relative prices – raising the cost of emissions-intensive activities and/or lowering the cost of lower-emitting alternatives – to …