The world’s biggest polluters have amassed trillions of pounds in profits over recent decades amid the steepest rises in carbon emissions and global temperatures on record. These would allow carbon markets to operate globally, and unleash trillions of dollars of green investments through so-called carbon offset programmes. They are designed with a declining cap on the number of allowances available to buy, to ensure a rising carbon price and give a clear market signal that emitting CO 2 doesn’t pay. In the past decade, the UK’s carbon price floor – a carbon tax used on top of the price of carbon allowances – effectively wiped out coal-fired power by making it too expensive compared with other electricity generation options. “A global carbon market or a uniform global price or tax will not be on the cards any time soon,” Fjellheim said.

Source: The Guardian November 20, 2021 22:41 UTC