Comments jinbman has made

  • common misconceptions

    Emissions trading and Pigovian tax systems are two different things.  In the case of the tax, the revenue is levied at a fixed rate and received by a governmental agency and distributed in a way that provides equal benefit for all.  Emissions trading systems provide revenue directly to those parties who are reducing emissions and are subject to price fluctuations.  

    What precisely do you mean by regulation that includes "public works"?  This is quite vague and I am not sure that language has the meaning that you intend.

    Carbon trading IS a form of emissions trading so they are quite specifically the same thing, not just considered to be so.

    While emission credits are sometimes auctioned off at the launch of a trading system, they are then exchanged for payment between parties in the market or retired by other parties.  It is not accurate to suggest that the only way to obtain a permit is to purchase it from a governmental agency.  On Carbon trading it too easily gamed posted 2 years, 11 months ago 12 Responses

  • Carbon trading is NOT a tax

    Your article makes one very large presumption that is NOT correct: carbon trading is in fact not a tax at all.  At a very basic level, the primary difference is that taxes are paid to the government and carbon emission offset costs are paid to parties trading on the market.  In theory, if not also actuality, such a market-based system is significantly more efficient in an economic sense.  In short, the trading system makes it cheaper to control emissions on both the level of the firm and the national economy.

    Of course, since the overall limit of permits on an emissions trading market are usually limited by a government then it tends to be a hybrid system.  However, the current US carbon trading system is voluntary and managed by an NGO, the Chicago Climate Exchange.

    That said, your article tends to be a bit confrontational and yet you shift your target.  Is it the bureaucrat or consultant who is guilty of the carbon footprint assessment?  You mention both with your accusations.

    Bottom line is that you critique the system but offer no alternative that would be better.  This tends to imply that you raise issue with emissions regulation in general, not carbon trading in specific.  

    J. Pittman
    Ecological Economist
    On Carbon trading it too easily gamed posted 2 years, 12 months ago 12 Responses