Why Carbon Taxes Actually RAISE Emissions

YouTube ^ | March 26, 2019 | Spencer P Morrison

[Thalean]

Not only does the logic show that carbon taxes in the West will invariably increase global CO2 emissions, but so does the empirical evidence.

To begin with, data from the World Bank reveals that China, and other developing countries, produce far more carbon per dollar of economic output (at purchasing power parity) than do Western nations. For example, China produced 0.6 kilograms of carbon dioxide per dollar of economic output in 2014, whereas America produced 0.3 kg of CO2, and Germany produced just 0.2 kg.

On top of this, China shows no signs of decreasing its emissions any time soon: China’s currently building hundreds of new coal-fired power plants, which will ensure its CO2 emissions continue to rise for decades to come.

Taken together, these facts suggest that every factory pushed out of the West due to carbon taxes actually increases global emissions dramatically, and this will continue to be the case for decades to come.

A number of other studies came to the same conclusion.

One important paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that carbon reductions alleged to the Kyoto Protocol were more than offset by increase emissions from imported products. Glen Peters of the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research said this of the research:

"Our study shows for the first time that emissions from increased production of internationally traded products have more than offset the emissions reductions achieved under the Kyoto Protocol … this suggests that the current focus on territorial emissions in a subset of countries may be ineffective at reducing global emissions without some mechanisms to monitor and report emissions from the production of imported goods and services."

Essentially, local carbon taxes are not a useful tool for mitigating a nation’s carbon footprint. If anything they actually raise global emissions. The paper also notes that China accounts for some 75 percent of the developed world’s offshored emissions.

Another study published in The Guardian, found that “50 percent of the rise in Chinese emissions are the result of goods for foreign markets.” This was echoed in a different study from the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters, which found that cuts in carbon emissions by developed countries have been cancelled out “many times over” by increases in imported goods from developing countries—especially China.

Another study found that all of the trumpeted carbon reductions in places like Germany fall apart under closer scrutiny:

"According to standard date, developed countries can claim to have reduced their collective emissions by almost 2% between 1990 and 2008. But once the carbon cost of imports have been added to each country, and exports subtracted – the true change has been an increase of 7%. If Russia and Ukraine – which cut their CO2 emissions rapidly in the 1990s due to economic collapse – are excluded, the rise is 12%."

In the same period, UK emissions fell by 28 million tonnes, but when imports and exports are taken into account, the domestic footprint has risen by more than 100 million tonnes. Europe achieved a 6% cut in CO2 emissions, but when outsourcing is considered that is reduced to 1%.

Together, these studies conclusively show that the offshoring of Western industry to China has actually increased global carbon emissions. It is unreasonable to assume that a carbon tax, which will further increase the incentive for business owners to offshore, will magically reduce global carbon emissions. There is no silver bullet. Carbon taxes are a pipe dream.

[GraceG]

Higher CO2 levels in the atmosphere actually increases the efficiency of plants using water....

These aholes want the earth to turn into a DESERT...

[BitWielder1]

I thought it was a dumb idea the first time I heard about it.
Better to spend money on innovation than penalties for doing useful work, for example running a factory.

[Zathras]

Poor argument.
Carbon Tax is a global tax which sends $$$ from rich countries to poor ones, administered by the UN.
That is all it does and all it was meant to do.

[marron]

The CO2 issue is just the “enviros” moving the goal-posts. They managed to reduce pollution to near zero, emissions to near zero even in coal plants. So, you invent a new non-polluting pollutant to worry about.

[EQAndyBuzz]

“The CO2 issue is just the “enviros” moving the goal-posts.”

The left turned pollution into a climate change nightmare. This is my suggestion to the administration. Take care of all the dependencies first. Clean up our bodies of water first. Then look at air pollution and how we can reduce that. Then re-baseline for climate change.

[CoastWatcher]

For example, China produced 0.6 kilograms of carbon dioxide per dollar of economic output in 2014,

We are all doomed: 0.6 Kgm per $ is 1.32 lbs of CO2 per $ of output. We will be crushed under the weight