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Cap And Trade Case Study

Good Essays

Distinguish between a carbon-tax and a cap-and-trade strategy for reducing carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases (that are believed by many scientists to be causing global warming).
According to the case, the carbon-tax and a cap-and-trade system are the best economic tool to employ to reduce emissions. As we know, taxes are the most important expense for a company or firm, if they would emit much more carbon dioxide and other gases, they need to pay more taxes on using carbon recourses. It is stated (Bubna-Litic & Chalifour 2012) that ‘One of the defining features of carbon taxes is that they generate a relatively clear and predictable stream of revenue’. The revenue can be used in many different ways and a key issue is how …show more content…

Discharging taxes is the most effective way to limit the emission although it is difficult to monitor the volume of emission (Jayanthakumaran 2012, p.369). It is demonstrated (Rabe & Borick 2012) that carbon taxation might belong on a long list of worthy policy ideas that cannot be expected to survive translation on to real policy through political examine. Secondly, from the analysis of case study, carbon taxes system is the most efficient way to undertake the emission reduction. Because, under the cap-and-trade system, it is very difficult for regulators to check whether firms are obeying the systems effectively and regulators need to monitor large number of factories, this would lead to free permits.

2. Describe the idea behind the cap-and-trade program for improving environmental quality.
It is said that (Revelle 2009) ‘A cap-and-trade system emissions by limiting the quantity of a pollutant (carbon dioxide [CO2]) that can be emitted and then allocating a corresponding number of tradable emissions permits to sources covered by the program’. The total allowed emissions are separated into individual permits which are allocated to the sources covered by the program; each presents the right to emit a certain quantity of the pollutant. At the end of the year, the emissions of each regulated source must be reported to be retired from the system. It is also mentioned that

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