CROWDSOURCING SUSTAINABILITY

Carbon Pricing is Picking up Steam Around the World!

Hold on, what is carbon pricing exactly?

The public (you and me) currently pays hundreds of billions of dollars annually (possibly trillions) for the societal damages caused by greenhouse gas emissions. These costs include loss of property from more extreme storms, healthcare, damage to crops, etc.

Putting a price on the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing this harm properly incentivizes the market to ensure these costs are being paid for by the parties responsible for them. It helps to fix our broken market that is wreaking havoc.

Why do we want carbon pricing?

Economists widely agree that carbon pricing is the most effective step we can take to reduce the risk of catastrophic climate change. It is the fastest and cheapest approach.

And it doesn’t have to be a tax. I support a method called carbon fee and dividend which is revenue neutral. 100% of the fees collected are redistributed to citizens monthly to offset the higher prices. This helps to protect people with less income.

Back to the story

20% of global greenhouse gas emissions have a price on them (or will soon), up from 15% last year. Most of this increase is from China

Carbon Pricing - global update 2018 - World bank

Countries, cities, and regions making moves.

Additionally, nearly 1,400 corporations (20% of the Fortune 500) are using internal carbon pricing as a tool to mitigate climate-related financial risks and innovate for the inevitable low-carbon future. Many corporations are even asking for a price on carbon to be implemented – including some of the biggest fossil fuel companies.

Those are the high-level takeaways. If you’d like to get into the weeds, check out the World Bank’s Carbon Pricing Dashboard.

This post originally featured in the Crowdsourcing Sustainability newsletter. Sign up for the newsletter below!

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