Menu

Argument: Emissions trading encourages investments in best technologies

Issue Report: Carbon emissions trading

Support

Bill Chameides, Chief Scientist at Environmental Defense. “Cap-and-trade: more effective than a carbon tax”. Grist.org. 12 Feb. 2007 – “Subsidizing one or two targeted technologies with a carbon tax would discourage investment in others that may turn out to be more effective. Which technologies should receive these tax dollars? No one has a crystal ball that can determine for sure which will turn out to be most useful. History has shown that the marketplace does a better job of developing new technologies, and a tax takes money out of the marketplace. The solution is cap-and-trade. A cap-and-trade strategy provides the incentive for all segments of the economy to compete to discover the best ways to cut emissions.”