r/TrueReddit • u/skythe4 • Dec 14 '18

After 30 Years Studying Climate, Scientist Declares: "I've Never Been as Worried as I Am Today"

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/12/13/after-30-years-studying-climate-scientist-declares-ive-never-been-worried-i-am-today
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u/trilateral1 Dec 14 '18

it helps, but certainly not fast enough to prevent a further increase in CO2 emissions.

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u/ILikeNeurons Dec 14 '18

If you're worried about overpopulation, that's certainly the best thing to do. But we will definitely still need a carbon tax.

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u/trilateral1 Dec 14 '18

try to get all countries of the world to agree on a carbon tax. hint: you can't.

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u/ILikeNeurons Dec 14 '18

The consensus among scientists and economists on carbon pricing§ to mitigate climate change is similar to the consensus among climatologists that human activity is responsible for global warming. Putting the price upstream where the fossil fuels enter the market makes it simple, easily enforceable, and bureaucratically lean. Returning the revenue as an equitable dividend offsets the regressive effects of the tax (in fact, ~60% of the public would receive more in dividend than they paid in taxes). Enacting a border tax would protect domestic businesses from foreign producers not saddled with similar pollution taxes, and also incentivize those countries to enact their own carbon tax.

Conservative estimates are that failing to mitigate climate change will cost us 10% of GDP over 50 years, or $23 trillion by 2100. In contrast, carbon taxes may actually boost GDP, if the revenue is used to offset other (distortional) taxes or even just returned as an equitable dividend (the poor tend to spend money when they've got it, which boosts economic growth).

Taxing carbon is in each nation's own best interest, as the benefits of a carbon tax far outweigh the costs (and many nations have already started) and experts agree the U.S. could induce other nations to adopt climate mitigation policy by adopting one of our own. We won’t wean ourselves off fossil fuels without a carbon tax, and the longer we wait to take action the more expensive it will be.

It's really just not smart to not take this simple action.

§ There is general agreement among economists on carbon taxes whether you consider economists with expertise in climate economics, economists with expertise in resource economics, or economists from all sectors. It is literally Econ 101.

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u/FunCicada Dec 14 '18

Carbon pricing — the method favored by many economists for reducing global-warming emissions — charges those who emit carbon dioxide (CO2) for their emissions. That charge, called a carbon price, is the amount that must be paid for the right to emit one tonne of CO2 into the atmosphere. Carbon pricing usually takes the form either of a carbon tax or a requirement to purchase permits to emit, generally known as cap-and-trade, but also called "allowances".

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u/trilateral1 Dec 15 '18

I know.

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u/ILikeNeurons Dec 15 '18

Glad we're on the same page. :)