In a step toward combating global warming, China announced earlier this week that it would implement a tax on carbon dioxide emissions (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-02/19/c_132178898.htm), reports Xinhua, China's official state news agency.
Some (http://noahpinionblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/what-can-we-do-to-put-stop-to-global.html) economists (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/paul-krugman-china_n_2288447.html) view action by China as key in the international push to preserve the environment. While U.S. carbon emissions recently hit a 20-year low (http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/17/a-20-year-low-in-u-s-carbon-emissions/), China's carbon emissions (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/21/global-carbon-emissions-record) continue to rise and reportedly account for most of the world's growth in carbon emissions (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/9717280/Doha-Latest-figures-show-global-CO2-emissions-are-rising.html). China is the largest polluter in the world (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/24/china-power-plants-pollution_n_1112031.html) and now burns nearly as much coal (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/30/china-burns-half-coal-worldwide) as the rest of the world combined.
In the U.S., there is no carbon tax, though two liberal senators proposed a bill to tax carbon emissions (http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/14/usa-climate-legislation-idUSL1N0BE7ZP20130214) last week, according to Reuters.
A high tax on carbon dioxide emissions (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/business/carbon-tax-would-have-many-benefits-economic-view.html) could eventually stabilize the climate by forcing people to drive more fuel-efficient vehicles, according to Cornell University economist Robert Frank.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/paul-krugman-china_n_2288447.html) recently said that China's contributions to climate change could be deadly. "If you worry about climate change and stuff like that, then China is -- Chinese growth is a wonderful human success story that could kill us all," he said (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/paul-krugman-china_n_2288447.html) at the New York Times DealBook conference in December.
Via: HuffingtonPost