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COP26: is carbon pricing the climate change silver bullet world leaders would like you to believe?
- It’s the oven-ready solution governments hail as key to reducing emissions. But with countries’ tariffs varying widely, and nearly all far below the level needed to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius, is it just political convenience?
- Sceptics say carbon pricing is likely to have only a marginal effect – and that’s why it’s so popular, even among Big Oil companies like Exxon. Others take a glass half full view
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If there were a climate policy equivalent of an oven-ready casserole for world leaders to take to this week’s climate talks in Glasgow, it has to be their carbon-pricing strategies.
While a handful of experts continue to caution against an over-reliance on market mechanisms to slow climate change, that has not stopped governments from hailing carbon pricing as the single most important way of reducing emissions.
Whether through a carbon tax, where a fixed price is paid per tonne of greenhouse gas, or a cap-and-trade programme – which puts a cap on sectors’ and firms’ emissions – the mantra is the same: putting a price on carbon will provide the vital nudge towards lower-carbon alternatives.
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A United Nations handbook on carbon taxation released this week said of 64 “carbon pricing instruments” being implemented globally, 33 were carbon taxes applied primarily at the national level.
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Indonesia, whose President Joko Widodo is attending the UN Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, this month indicated it planned a carbon tariff of approximately US$2.10 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).
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COP26 Glasgow, the UN Climate Change Conference: last chance to save the planet?
COP26 Glasgow, the UN Climate Change Conference: last chance to save the planet?
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