It’s Time to Abandon Carbon Pricing
Carbon pricing programs like cap and trade carry enormous political costs and few environmental benefits. We should abandon them — and instead pursue transformative climate policies that deliver immediate material gains to workers.
Campaigners protest during a climate change action day on September 20, 2019 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images)
As environmental economists, oil companies, and policy wonks gather in New York for Climate Week, they will debate the finer points of carbon pricing. They shouldn’t.
Is carbon pricing a good idea? In theory, yes. We really should make bad things more expensive. Has it worked? Depends on the yardstick. In environmental terms, carbon pricing has produced marginal climate benefits in the form of gradual emissions reductions.
But politically, it’s done more harm than good. Carbon pricing has contributed to the extreme polarization of the climate issue. It’s stoked class divisions, reinforcing the myth that climate policy necessarily penalizes the poor and working class, and sparking revolts like the Yellow Vests in France. That myth, in turn, has slowed progress on decarbonization — all while convincing politicians and the public that we’re making real headway on climate change. (We’re not.)
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