Carbon credits are open to market manipulation. The existing European system is demonstrably a largely ineffectual mess but Australia is going down the same road, with all sorts of exclusions, and social subsidies which ultimately subsidize the polluters! . A direct tax on measurable carbon emissions "upstream" on primary sources such as energy generation, transport fuels, resource recovery, etc would be simpler, less costly to administer, more effective (spreading cost downstream) - and not open to market manipulation, which is why it's vehemently opposed by commercial lobby groups. Taxes collected could be devoted to alternative energy, public transport, and other adaptations to combat climate change. But that would require active community support against established powerful interests. Over to you - the politically easy way, or the socially practical one?.
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