Interesting. Across the transom comes news of a new treaty, the International Carbon Action Partnership, signed today by a collection of countries and U.S. states that have implemented carbon cap-and-trade systems.
The idea is to share knowledge and work to standardize best practices in order to facilitate the growth of a global carbon market.
From the press release:
The ground-breaking international and interregional agreement was signed today by U.S. and Canadian members of the Western Climate Initiative, northeastern U.S. members of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, as well as European members including the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, and the European Commission. New Zealand and Norway joined on behalf of their emissions trading programs.
...
Global warming is a problem that requires a global solution. ICAP will facilitate such a global solution by:
- Rigorously and accurately monitoring, reporting and verifying emissions and working to determine reliable sources appropriate for inclusion in a globally linked program.
- Encouraging common approaches and furthering partners' ability to link together to expand the global carbon market, helping to prevent leakage.
- Creating a clear price incentive to innovate, develop and use clean technologies.
- Encouraging private investors to chose low carbon projects and technologies, generating the flow of money needed to support a shift to a low-carbon future.
- Providing flexible compliance mechanisms that ensure reliable reductions at the fastest pace and lowest cost
This kind of international diplomacy by individual U.S. states is something new, as far as I know.
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Comments View as Flat
GreyFlcn Posted 2:12 am
29 Oct 2007
So I've been hearing
So I've been hearing that a cap-and-trade program is perhaps the better "either-or" approach if we had to pick one, compared to a carbon tax.
Mainly because it implements much better on a global scale.
Also because it allows you to control the carbon emissions directly, rather than controlling the price and assuming what the carbon emissions will be.
And also, frankly it leaves the money out of the hands of politicians which would just squander it away.
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solveclimate Posted 5:31 am
29 Oct 2007
ICAP
Back in July 2006, then-UK-PM Tony Blair traveled to California, and there inked an agreement with Schwarzenegger to cooperate on global warming. It was a telling moment that saw the signing of an agreement between the head of a national government and the head of a US state government. "California will not wait for our federal government to take strong action on global warming," the governor said at the time. ICAP looks like another step.
It is also another indication of the leadership role the US states have been playing on climate action. See "The Good News from the States" at http://solveclimate.com/resource/good-news-states
david sassoon
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fissionchips Posted 4:56 pm
29 Oct 2007
Advantages of Cap and Trade
GreyFlcn, there are a couple other reasons why a cap and trade system has gained favour internationally. For one, it promotes sustainable development through the trading of emissions permits between countries. A carbon tax would accomplish the same by having developed countries fund projects in developing countries, but it would be less feasible from a political standpoint.
Similar thinking applies within countries. The cap and trade system allows for a balance between government supervision and economic efficiency. Governments will have a big role to play at first to reduce the shock of carbon pricing. As the system matures and people adjust, it's possible to shift the job of allocating permits from governments to markets so that the overall cost of mitigation is reduced.
My site "From Kyoto to Bali: A new framework for the climate" features talks by climate policy experts that cover all of these issues.
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