Monday, June 10, 2019

Pricing Carbon



The giant re-insurer, Munich Re, wants carbon pricing to increase - massively.  The Liberal government is running into stiff resistance to its $25/tonne carbon tax. Munich Re argues the tax should be 115 Euros per tonne or $170.60 Cdn.


Munich Re, which is exposed to natural catastrophes caused by extreme weather events such as hurricanes and floods, has been warning about climate change since the early 1970s. 
In the fourth quarter of 2018 alone, a typhoon in Asia and two wildfires in California triggered a 56 per cent year-on-year drop in Munich Re’s quarterly profits. 
Mr Wenning called for the introduction of a meaningful price on carbon emissions that create financial incentives to accelerate the switch from fossil fuel to renewables. “This can be either done by emissions trading or by a tax on carbon,” he said.

“The CO2 price needs to be high,” said Mr Wenning, adding that the use of fossil energy needed to be made economically unviable for the biggest consumers such as steelmakers, the chemical industry and transport.   
The Munich Re chief acknowledged that a price on carbon as high as necessary to fight climate change would cost jobs, because some carbon-heavy companies would probably go out of business.  
Yes, some carbon-heavy companies would go out of business but, if we fail to act, what fate awaits them? They're simply incompatible with the survival of our global civilization. That's just the way it is. Ask Big Carbon how they suggest we get around this. They don't have a clue.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Should this be invoked, the people who will pay for this $170.60 Can.per tonne which will further be a another tax burden, falling on those working people who make $120,000 or less a year. Where or where is there any mention of Corporations paying their share at a much higher rate? That is like making expensive electric cars for sale while avoiding a cheaper model. Anyong

Anonymous said...

How campfires and wood stoves will be taxed?
In any case, 170$ is a lowball.

the salamander said...

.. anyone got a price on methane ? Funny how nobody really wants to mention it. How many wells exist in North Ameria ? It must be well over a million ...

the salamander said...

.. the convenient & useful 'whipping boy' - that would be carbon tax - adored by sellout political animals (which is a category or sub species including, nay infested by sold out mainstream media)

By thundering 'job killing, economic growth slaying, tax on hard working middle class Canadians' as often as possible.. WE get parasitic ideologues posturing of their civic exaltedness.. pretending to be OUR high priests of saving OUR world.

Can someone let me know when said political parasites mention rhe term - 'polluter pays' ? The grim reality is that they do not.. and certain pretend political parties specialize in dancing away from anywhere near the reality of disastrous calamitous climate change.. the true Pandora's Box of a fossil fuel death race to oblivion.. to the 'vanishing point'

Who has a glimmer of an idea.. which is worse.. The leaking wells (CO2 & Methane) the related destruction of environment, habitat and species.. or the burning of said 'fossil fuel energy' .. or are they killing us equally ?

Anonymous said...

Nor does anyone want to talk about planes and its emission, or those huge tourist ships...what they pump into the air and their every day dump of manure and refuse into the oceans or, the burning of it on board.