A carbon giveaway Europe cannot afford

Commentary feature. At a time of fiscal desperation, European governments can give away tens of billions of euros, in ways that may largely be reaped as windfall profits by polluting industries, and in so doing increase the cost to the rest of EU business of meeting our climate commitments.

Or, they can charge carbon properly, creating clear and consistent incentives to cut emissions efficiently, and thereby raise tens of billions for the public purse, with a portion of the new revenues associated with imports potentially available to crack the international impasse.

European Commission: DG Environment: Policies: Climate change: Emission Trading System (EU ETS) http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/emission/auctioning_en.htm

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