Finding a way to deal with the climate crisis is truly a hot button issue.
One of the most effective mechanisms to date in dealing with similar past issues is placing a price on Carbon. We have seen this work in the past with the passage of the US 1990 Clean Air Act which placed a limit on Sulfur Dioxide ( SO2) emissions at US power plants and established a price onSO2. But that is just one country dealing with what they saw as a regional issue.
Currently some 70 different countries have established a price on carbon, but to be truly effective, we need to come up with a global solution to a global problem. Global pricing on carbon has been an ongoing discussion and is fraught with many pitfalls; placing more developed nations against emerging nations and both against the communities where climate change is an actual existential threat to their very existence.
This is why it is very interesting that the International Maritime Organization may actually succeed and help establish a global mechanism that other industries can follow suit. While many issues still remain, this could lead to a way for each country to enact solutions that will meet their unique needs on how to mitigate the effects of climate change. Business will also have a more stable way of looking at the prices of their operations and avoid paying carbon taxes in multiple jurisdictions.
It will be very interesting to see this unfold and if successful it will be interesting to see how other industries can be incorporated under a similar scheme.
When done right, carbon pricing “is the most cost effective and the most straightforward policy that provides the widest range of flexibility to all economic stakeholders,” he said. “You can basically help the planet, help the climate and at the same time use the revenue to foster development.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/28/climate/a-first-step-toward-a-global-price-on-carbon.html
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