Associate Professor Maya Papineau was interviewed by The Narwhal as an economic expert in their recent article on carbon prices. Professor Papineau had this to say:
The carbon price is the most efficient way to meet our climate change targets — at least if you’re concerned about affordability for households.
There’s a lot of science economy models that run simulations to identify the present value of the global damage from another tonne of carbon dioxide emitted. That’s what’s being reflected in [carbon] prices: for each tonne of carbon dioxide content for any given fuel, the extra price being added is the social cost of carbon. That’s going to be a benefit to households who switch to low- or zero-carbon options because you’re not going to be paying for that damage.
If you look at the benefits versus the costs of the carbon tax, the costs of not implementing it — when you consider climate damages — are much higher than any of the savings. The costs are even higher if you decide to take a different policy approach and completely axe the carbon tax because anything the government does will cost money, but with the carbon tax you get revenue back, which you can remit to households and possibly use to incentivize other low carbon technology.
Read the full article on The Narwhal website.