Comments on: Fool’s Gold of Carbon Trading http://cstpr.colorado.edu/prometheus/?p=4755 Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:36:51 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: stan http://cstpr.colorado.edu/prometheus/?p=4755&cpage=1#comment-11320 stan Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:32:48 +0000 http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/prometheus/?p=4755#comment-11320 Tomfid, wrote -- "However, a little honesty might actually help us confront the problem." A little honesty about the "science" behind the problem would actually be far more helpful. Tomfid, wrote — “However, a little honesty might actually help us confront the problem.”

A little honesty about the “science” behind the problem would actually be far more helpful.

]]> By: tomfid http://cstpr.colorado.edu/prometheus/?p=4755&cpage=1#comment-11316 tomfid Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:54:23 +0000 http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/prometheus/?p=4755#comment-11316 It's fun to blame the politicians, but the reality is that politicians who set a cap tight enough to actually do something would quickly be recalled when the carbon price at which that occurred became evident. The fatal flaw is ultimately the public's lack of commitment to doing anything that costs much. Cap & trade exacerbates the effect of political survival instincts, because inelastic energy demand translates emissions certainty into high price uncertainty. Thus adventurous cap-setting is unlikely. A safety valve would mitigate that problem, and permit greater reductions on average, but ironically greens tend to oppose that. A carbon tax is a more stable and transparent instrument, but to set the tax you have to admit up front what you're willing to pay - which on the part of the public is evidently not much. However, a little honesty might actually help us confront the problem. It’s fun to blame the politicians, but the reality is that politicians who set a cap tight enough to actually do something would quickly be recalled when the carbon price at which that occurred became evident. The fatal flaw is ultimately the public’s lack of commitment to doing anything that costs much.

Cap & trade exacerbates the effect of political survival instincts, because inelastic energy demand translates emissions certainty into high price uncertainty. Thus adventurous cap-setting is unlikely. A safety valve would mitigate that problem, and permit greater reductions on average, but ironically greens tend to oppose that.

A carbon tax is a more stable and transparent instrument, but to set the tax you have to admit up front what you’re willing to pay – which on the part of the public is evidently not much. However, a little honesty might actually help us confront the problem.

]]>