Innovation Before Carbon Pricing

How Economists Misrepresent Energy and Technology

Carbon taxes are the elegant solution climate hawks have been looking for since the death of cap-and-trade, and economists, such as George Mankiw (above, left), have supported the model. But as Dr. Rob Gross, the Director of the U.K. Imperial College Centre for Energy Policy and Technology stated, this idea is, “so simplistic it is absurd.” Carbon taxes are doomed to fail because they do little to drive what is needed most: innovation that generates affordable clean energy that all 7 billion humans will want to adopt, not out of altruism or coercion, but out of self-interest. As such it’s time to overcome climate policy group-think and embrace a robust clean energy innovation policy.

October 11, 2013 | Matthew Stepp, Alex Trembathhttp://thebreakthrough.org/index.php/programs/energy-and-climate/innovation-before-carbon-pricing/