IMF Calls for Massive Carbon Tax

The International Monetary Fund claims the world needs to move to an average $75 (USD) per ton carbon tax by 2030 if we're to have a reasonable chance of averting catastrophic climate change.

Did I mention "average"? That's not for the major emitters in the G20. The major emitters in the advanced nations will have to go much higher.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says a $75-(€68-)per-ton carbon tax by 2030 would have the greatest effect in reducing carbon emissions and staving off global warming. 

"Carbon taxes are the most powerful and efficient tools but only if they are implemented in a fair and growth-friendly way," an IMF researcher wrote in a blog post.

Carbon taxes raise the cost of fossil fuels and encourage people and business to switch to greener energy source, the agency said in a report released Thursday ahead of annual IMF and World Bank meetings next week.

Advanced economies could implement higher taxes, or provide greater assistance to developing economies in exchange for a commitment to ambitious carbon reduction goals.

The hike would motivate businesses and consumers to move to cheaper green energy sources. Governments could use tax revenue to assist poorer households and workers disproportionately affected by the switch. 

The benefits would more than offset the costs. The carbon tax could prevent 725,000 premature deaths due to air pollution by 2030, mainly in China.

Current carbon emission efforts aren't enough to limit the rise in global temperatures to the goal of no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degree Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels as laid out in the 2015 Paris Accord. Current initiatives correspond with a warming of 3 degrees Celsius.

A suitably hefty carbon tax is needed now more than ever. Despite all the goodwill and honourable intentions that littered the floor at the 2015 Paris climate summit, emissions are going up, not down. To reverse that, to get emissions down, we have to drive them down.

The major energy producers aren't looking to trim their sails. What they're looking forward to is a massive increase in fossil energy consumption, an extra 7 million barrels a day over the next 12 years. They've got momentum. They're on a roll. Reining them in gets harder with each worsening year.

And, look, little Canada gets a podium finish. We're Number Two. We're usually pretty happy to settle for the silver.

...the US is the centre of the latest global oil boom, with more than four times more new production than the next country, Canada, over the next 10 years.

So, let's say Canada's fair and equitable share should come out to a carbon tax in the range of $150 to $200 per ton by 2030. What do you imagine the chances of that are? C'mon, really.