The Ever-evolving Case
for a Carbon Tax
Shi-Ling Hsu
Univ. of British Columbia Faculty of Law
Florida State University College of Law
The Role of Forests in Carbon Mitigation
and Energy Independence
1.1 tons per acre per year x $30/ton
= $33 per acre per year
Washington has 22 m acres of forest
Maximum earning potential: $726 m per year
Value of raw logs: 8 m3/acr/yr x $60/m3/acr/yr =
$480 per acre per year
China’s HCFC plants
•manufacture of HCFC-22
•capture of HFC-23
•1 ton HCFC Æ 175-350 tons CO2 ($5k-7k/ton)
•Value of offsets: avg $115m over 2 years per
HCFC plant
Joseph Stiglitz on Climate Change:
"There is a way out, and that is through a
common (global) environmental tax on
emissions…."
Economists' Voice, July 2006
Gregory Mankiw on Climate Change:
Here are three votes for a carbon tax:
Tierney, Nordhaus, and Mankiw….
What do we all have in common? None
of us is planning to run for elected office.
Gregory Mankiw's Blog, May, 2006
1. federalism
2. innovation in small chunks
3. government is bad at picking winners
"America can lead the
world in developing clean,
hydrogen-powered automobiles. A simple chemical
reaction between hydrogen
and oxygen generates energy,
which can be used to power
a car, producing only water,
not exhaust fumes. With a
new national commitment, our
scientists and engineers will overcome obstacles to
taking these cars from laboratory to showroom, so
that the first car driven by a child born today could be
powered by hydrogen and pollution-free.”
George W. Bush, January 28, 2003.
1. federalism
2. innovation in small chunks
3. government is bad at picking winners
4. international harmonization
5. sticky capital
“If something can’t go
on forever, it won’t.”
There is no way
around the reality that
a carbon tax is
needed.
Herbert Stein, economist
1916-1999