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"Taxing the hell out of CO2 emissions", which I take to mean taxing it so much it forces producers and consumers to significantly curtail C02 activities, would

"Taxing the hell out of CO2 emissions", which I take to mean taxing it so much it forces producers and consumers to significantly curtail C02 activities, would not necessarily be a self-fulfilling solution. Tax obviously works, but it can only work to a point. At a certain point we need technological solutions such as solar to make up the rest. Extremely high taxes would lead to a lot more outsourcing of C02 activities to countries with less controls. If a widget produced X tons of C02 released into the atmosphere in the UK, it may well produce 3X tons of C02 in Asia or Africa. Then it also costs C02 in transporting the widgets to the UK. In this instance the UK does not get tax revenue, and C02 emissions have tripled. A lose lose situation. Consumers may also revert to unhealthy and C02 producing activities such as burning coal at home for heat. So then you would also need to tax imports for perceived C02, and also tax precursors for C02 (coal) rather than just emissions. Meanwhile the poor are rioting in the streets (see Paris this past week).

ForHackernews 8y ago
It's a global problem, you need a global solution backed up by treaty commitments, and presumably an inspection regime (similar to the IAEA). Like I said elsewhere in this thread, I'm pretty fatalistic that anything will actually be done, but pretending for the sake of argument that we cared about the world our children will inherit, what would you propose?
- steve19 8y ago
  I am also fatalistic about global treaties of any major consequence. So failing that I would start with low hanging fruit. Convince countries with low populations but high per capita C02 emissions to switch to sustainable power. Especially countries that are increasing. Trinidad and Tobago have a small population (1.3 million) but have the second highest per capita and its increasing. I assume they are burning far to much diesel and have some issues getting natural gas supplies, or maybe corruption is causing buyers to buy diesel and not natural gas. Maybe the global community can come up with a solution. Saudi Arabia (for all their other problems) is high on that list but sees the writing on the wall and is investing in solar. If it makes sense for them financially and in terms of stability, it probably also makes sense for Qatar and Kuwait to burn less oil and build solar. Next I would look at countries that do not have a high per capita, but are increasing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_di...
  - ForHackernews 8y ago
    I guess that's a good starting place, but we have ~11 years to cut global emissions by 50% -- I don't know if you can do that off the back of Trinidad and Tobago.

ForHackernews 8y ago

It's a global problem, you need a global solution backed up by treaty commitments, and presumably an inspection regime (similar to the IAEA). Like I said elsewhere in this thread, I'm pretty fatalistic that anything will actually be done, but pretending for the sake of argument that we cared about the world our children will inherit, what would you propose?

steve19 8y ago
I am also fatalistic about global treaties of any major consequence. So failing that I would start with low hanging fruit. Convince countries with low populations but high per capita C02 emissions to switch to sustainable power. Especially countries that are increasing. Trinidad and Tobago have a small population (1.3 million) but have the second highest per capita and its increasing. I assume they are burning far to much diesel and have some issues getting natural gas supplies, or maybe corruption is causing buyers to buy diesel and not natural gas. Maybe the global community can come up with a solution. Saudi Arabia (for all their other problems) is high on that list but sees the writing on the wall and is investing in solar. If it makes sense for them financially and in terms of stability, it probably also makes sense for Qatar and Kuwait to burn less oil and build solar. Next I would look at countries that do not have a high per capita, but are increasing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_di...
- ForHackernews 8y ago
  I guess that's a good starting place, but we have ~11 years to cut global emissions by 50% -- I don't know if you can do that off the back of Trinidad and Tobago.