For example, if world leaders agree to keep carbon emissions in 2030 at the same level they are now, no one person's emissions could exceed 11 tons of carbon each year. That means there would be about a billion "high emitters" in 2030 out of a projected world population of 8.1 billion.
By counting the emissions of all the individuals likely to exceed this level, world leaders could provide target emissions cuts for each country. Currently, the world average for individual annual carbon emissions is about 5 tons; each European produces 10 tons and each American produces 20 tons.
Within the U.S., then, if 11 tons per person were the target (actually, of course it needs to be lower), the U.S. (and the Eurozone, which would also be over that level) could figure out how to cut that figure on individually-focused policies.
China? We would internationalize carbon emissions cap and cap-and-trade systems. Not that I’m a huge fan of the WTO, but it would stand to reason that it would be the administrative and regulatory body.
And, here in the U.S., if it read to a “yacht tax,” fine by me. And, spare me the bullshit about how many people work on building yachts. Besides, they can build more plebian-type boats anyway.
Anyway, read the whole story. This is huge. Huge enough to throw a grenade into the Copenhagen round of climate change negotiations.
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