The problem is that environmental costs are externalized. That means that damage, generally speaking, and the cost to repair, mitigate, or avoid it, are not fac

The problem is that environmental costs are externalized. That means that damage, generally speaking, and the cost to repair, mitigate, or avoid it, are not factored in to the operating costs and pricing of goods and services that cause such damage. Cap and trade as attempted, didn't actually fix this (as its proponents claimed). Instead, it created a way to kick the can down the road, and created a temporary carbon Ponzi scheme.