The speech that President-elect Barack Obama made to the governors’ climate conference sounds good as far as it went. But, then again, one could say that about many an Obama speech.
First, what’s missing? Carbon taxes, in my opinion.
I don’t believe a cap-and-trade will work well, or that it’s strong enough by itself, to effect real change on controlling carbon dioxide emissions. Also, no details yet on how a U.S. cap-and-trade system would be better than the original EU version.
Second, Obama is going to need some source of revenue for the $15 billion a year he wants to spend on research on how to reduce carbon emissions. Well, with a carbon tax, there’s your money.
Plus side? He didn’t mention carbon offsets as a serious part of the solution.
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