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We need to put a price on carbon and let the economy figure out how to adjust. Trying to set piecemeal policies like stop selling X product in Y time is not fea

We need to put a price on carbon and let the economy figure out how to adjust. Trying to set piecemeal policies like stop selling X product in Y time is not feasible. We already have a method by which to coordinate globally, trying to invent a new one for this won't work.

adrianN 7y ago
I agree, but I don't see a (sufficiently high) price of carbon coming either.
neltnerb 7y ago
Unfortunately I think it's too late for a carbon tax. Regulations are the only thing that we know works and can possibly work on the time scale required. Market forces would have maybe had time to work ten years ago... Edit: To quote unattributed from a friend that does this stuff for work, I don't think they'll mind as long as their name isn't attached: "I think it’s a distraction from more effective policy. Emission standards like CAFE have worked better than carbon taxes have and also have caused zero national protests in France. Decarbonizing is an infrastructure replacement problem, which is capital intensive. It needs solutions that encourage, subsidize, and mandate green capital investment. Carbon taxes affects capital decisions at the discount rates of corporations (10%) or consumers (20%ish), which gives them a short time horizon. They also don’t really kick the green tech adoption laggards in the butt enough to get to 99% decarbonization."
- kolinko 7y ago
  if’s not too late if you make carbon tax equal to the cost of carbon capture. for coal power plants it would be just 30% extra
  - neltnerb 7y ago
    This is what I thought several months ago, but my friend convinced me otherwise. Targeted strategies like energy standards for light bulbs or CAFE standards for vehicles have actual data demonstrating that they work and work quickly. To clarify, I'm not saying "no carbon tax" but rather "carbon tax is insufficient because the time scale is too short". This is an opinion piece, but it is the national academy of sciences at least. https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/117/16/8664.full.pdf https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/117/16/8664.full.pdf

adrianN 7y ago

I agree, but I don't see a (sufficiently high) price of carbon coming either.

neltnerb 7y ago

Unfortunately I think it's too late for a carbon tax. Regulations are the only thing that we know works and can possibly work on the time scale required. Market forces would have maybe had time to work ten years ago... Edit: To quote unattributed from a friend that does this stuff for work, I don't think they'll mind as long as their name isn't attached: "I think it’s a distraction from more effective policy. Emission standards like CAFE have worked better than carbon taxes have and also have caused zero national protests in France. Decarbonizing is an infrastructure replacement problem, which is capital intensive. It needs solutions that encourage, subsidize, and mandate green capital investment. Carbon taxes affects capital decisions at the discount rates of corporations (10%) or consumers (20%ish), which gives them a short time horizon. They also don’t really kick the green tech adoption laggards in the butt enough to get to 99% decarbonization."

kolinko 7y ago
if’s not too late if you make carbon tax equal to the cost of carbon capture. for coal power plants it would be just 30% extra
- neltnerb 7y ago
  This is what I thought several months ago, but my friend convinced me otherwise. Targeted strategies like energy standards for light bulbs or CAFE standards for vehicles have actual data demonstrating that they work and work quickly. To clarify, I'm not saying "no carbon tax" but rather "carbon tax is insufficient because the time scale is too short". This is an opinion piece, but it is the national academy of sciences at least. https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/117/16/8664.full.pdf https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/117/16/8664.full.pdf