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Why wouldn't a high carbon tax drive decarbonization of electricity sufficiently well?

• imtringued 4y ago
  People seem to think that the carbon dividend makes saving CO2 pointless for the average consumer but they forgot that the consumer isn't actually in charge of deciding how much CO2 pollution a production process should result in. The business sees a cost on its balance sheet and it has an incentive to minimize its costs, which also is an incentive to minimize pollution even if the average consumer doesn't give a rat's ass.
  • tgsovlerkhgsel 4y ago
    Which is also the reason why a $100/ton carbon tax won't raise the price of a laptop that currently causes 0.3 t to be emitted by $30: Some of the components will (somewhere along the value chain!) be replaced with less carbon intensive alternatives that were just slightly too expensive to be worth bothering with. That's how carbon taxes achieve most of their benefit - not by shifting consumption or pricing consumers out! The above numbers are realistic examples for the magnitude of carbon taxes typically discussed and the manufacturing carbon footprint of a laptop, btw.
    • deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]