Tax or trade: the carbon policy vacuum

摘要

Carbon taxes are returning to favor and the prospects for a global carbon market have dimmed. The EU Emissions Trading Scheme looks unlikely to deliver prices sufficient to incentivize emissions reductions until 2013 at best. In the US and Australia, it is not clear whether the bed notices on cap-and-trade read 'do' or 'do not resuscitate'. If early action on climate change is needed, new options look likely to fill the policy vacuum.