Whilst not asking directly for Climate Income an editorial in The Times today puts the case for a Carbon Tax…..The message from policymakers must be that mitigating climate change can best be tackled through the continual innovations that are characteristic of market economies. And that doing so, using the price mechanism to encourage new technologies, is practical. It is widely understood that a carbon tax would be highly effective in persuading consumers and businesses to switch their energy consumption and behaviour. This would need to apply to carbon consumption and not only production, lest richer countries merely outsource their production to poorer economies. Revenues from a carbon tax could be used to subsidise renewable sources of energy and thereby encourage their wide adoption.
Carbon taxation in general is to be welcomed as it gives the right economic signals and makes decarbonisation cost effective. Even better would be Climate Income which would ensure the transition doesn’t hurt householders, especially the poorest! (See also a new blog).