alt Hacker NewsThe problem is we have no way to pass a global carbon tax, and the way the global economy works now any attempts at a national level will only succeed in moving the carbon generation to other countries.
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inigyou • today at 2:17 AM
You just have to tax on import and un-tax on export.
Or directly tax the things that cause it: Tax all non-biofuel petrol a certain amount instead of trying to calculate how much CO2 was emitted in its production.
We actually do have a relatively reasonable way to pass a mostly global carbon tax; Nordhaus won a Nobel Memorial Prize for this plan: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.15000001
AFAICT Germany actually came fairly close to assembling a club but failed because they wanted a club that would include the US but excluded China but couldn't find a reasonable mechanism to include the US. We should try again -- most countries would have no qualms about assembling a club that would exclude the US.