Cap and Trade Should Be Implemented to Lower the Carbon Emissions

Advantages

The characteristics stated above of Cap and Trade makes it one of the most efficient environmental policies to combat climate change so far. The following substantiates will clear deliver the policy’s cornerstones.

1) Encourage sustainable businesses and people to reduce emissions

As the firms have to pay extra costs of what they produce and emit, they have to clearly bring sustainability as the main target of their businesses in order to reduce their emissions. Not doing so, will drop the profits in their business as they have to pay the price for extra emitted carbon. Further it will bring down their reputation from those companies in the market whose carbon labelling will be better. Thus they will have no choice but to take actions. They have to bring sustainability to the core target of their firm. On other hand, it would engage the thoughtful attention of every household and enterprise to the effort to reduce emissions.[6] (Repetto, Cap and Trade is Better Climate Policy than a Carbon Tax, 2013) Each emitter, direct or indirect, would face higher prices for fossil-based energy and for energy intensive goods and services. Each one would then be motivated to find ways to minimize those cost increases in the least onerous way. All the resourcefulness and creativity that the economy and population can muster would be engaged in the effort, not because of environmental commitment or citizenship but because of economic self-interest. Although a large majority of Americans believes that greenhouse gases should be reduced, that alone has not been enough to motivate their actions on nearly the scale required. Values must be supported by economic self interest which is present in the cap and trade policy.

2) Cost-effec...

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...stitution: http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxtopics/quickfacts_cap-and-trade.cfm

[9]Repetto, R. (2013, May). Cap and Trade is Better Climate Policy than a Carbon Tax. United Nations Foundation .

[10]Repetto, R. (2013). Cap and Trade is Better Climate Policy than a Carbon Tax.

[11]Reviewing Existing And Proposed Emissions Trading Systems. (2010, Nov). Retrieved May 18, 2014, from International Energy Agency: http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/ets_paper2010.pdf

[12]The EU Emissions Trading Scheme has failed: “Time to scrap the ETS”. (n.d.). Retrieved May 18, 2014, from Redd Monitor: http://www.redd-monitor.org/2013/04/16/the-eu-emissions-trading-scheme-has-failed-time-to-scrap-the-ets/

[13]The History of Cap and Trade. (n.d.). Retrieved May 18, 2014, from Alternative Fuel Show: http://www.altfuelsnow.com/carbon/cap-and-trade.shtml