#9. Carbon Capping
If we have any hope of averting the most dangerous consequences of
climate change, we need to drastically reduce our carbon emissions by up to
80% of 1990 levels by the middle of the century. But putting a cap on carbon
will exert a price on consumers, as fuel and electricity will likely become
more expensive until alternative energy becomes fully competitive. Opponents
of capping say that it will amount to a regressive tax, borne most heavily
by the least well off. But Peter Barnes and the Tomales Bay Institute have
an answer for that. They argue that, rather than being given away to
industry, the permit to emit greenhouse gas should be sold by the government to
companies that burn carbon — and that the proceeds should be kicked back
to ordinary Americans in the form of a tax refund. That policy could be both
environmentally effective and politically viable.