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Thursday, 8 December 2016

RESISTING CARBON TAX IS CONTRIBUTING TO GLOBAL WARMING

Worldwide, 27 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide are produced by human activity annually. The physical effect of CO2 in the atmosphere can be measured as a change in the Earth-atmosphere system's energy balance-the radiative forcing of CO2. Carbon taxes are one of the policies available to governments to reduce GHG emissions.

In the Kyoto Protocol (an international treaty), CO2 emissions are regulated along with other GHGs. Different GHGs have different physical properties: the global warming potential is an internationally accepted scale of equivalence for other greenhouse gases in units of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

The scientific consensus is that human-induced greenhouse gas emissions are the primary cause of global warming, and that carbon dioxide is the most important of the anthropogenic GHGs.

A number of countries have implemented carbon taxes or energy taxes that are related to carbon content. Most environmentally related taxes with implications for greenhouse gas emissions in OECD countries are levied on energy products and motor vehicles, rather than on CO_2 emissions directly.

Opposition to increased environmental regulation such as carbon taxes often centers on concerns that firms might relocate and/or people might lose their jobs. It has been argued, however, that carbon taxes are more efficient than direct regulation and may even lead to higher employment. Many large users of carbon resources in electricity generation, such as the United States, Russia, and China, are resisting carbon taxation.

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