Thursday, March 25, 2010

France Abandons Carbon Tax

Seems like Cap and Trade is not getting anywhere.

France has abandoned the carbon tax amid fears that French businesses would lose competitive edge internationally.

Breakthrough.org sees this as further proof that cap and trade is politically impossible since Australia and Canada also abandoned cap and trade programs recently.

It doesn't prove to me that cap and trade is not worthwhile. It does show how invested we are in subsidizing pollution and energy. In Beyond Growth, Herman Daly talks about how globalization and free trade causes nations to be unable to set policy unilaterally. Transnational corporations are more powerful than nations themselves because of the need for economic stability. It's unclear how to get out of this situation, though.

Sweden, Denmark, Ireland and Finland have carbon taxes, though.

No comments: