Sub-prime carbon - government failure?
This will be a teaching topic I return to in the spring, but Radio 4 today carried an excellent report by Roger Harrabin from the BBC on criticisms of the EU’s carbon trading scheme. The report focuses on new research from Friends of the Earth that is highly critical of the emissions trading scheme. “FoE says most trades are done not by polluting industries, but by speculative traders packaging carbon credits into complex financial products similar to those which triggered the sub-prime mortgage crash.” More here from Friends of the Earth which included a link to their report (in pdf format).
Here is the link to the Radio 4 discussion - CEO of the European Climate Exchange Patrick Birley and the author of the FOTE report, Sarah Jane Clifton, discuss the rise in the carbon trading market.
New Revision Presentation on European Carbon Emissions Trading
This new tutor2u revision presentation looks at:
- Can carbon markets be part of the answer in controlling climate change?
- What is the basic economics of carbon trading?
- Is the EU system working?
- What are the alternatives / complements?
- Should carbon trading be replaced with a carbon tax?
Download PowerPoint presentation
Jeffrey Sachs on Carbon Trading
Jeffrey Sachs features on “You ask the Questions” in today’s Independent. There are loads of interesting questions and answers - Sachs remains positive about China’s growth potential although he expects it to decelerate to around seven per cent in the years ahead. Here he is on a question about carbon trading .... good evaluation here for students preparing for a question on carbon trading versus carbon taxes versus other policy measures:
“There is a good case for putting a price on carbon emissions but it is more straightforward to do it as a tax rather than a system of tradable permits. It would be easier to tax carbon at source – coal, oil, and gas companies. Tradable permits or carbon taxes will not help develop low-emission technologies. We need to combine carbon pricing with initiatives to promote sustainable energy and farming technologies.”
Catch the remainder of his article here
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