CO2 pricing report

Co-Author Ottmar Edenhofer: “It is a dirty lie that CO2 emissions from fossil fuels have so far come with no cost”

today, a major report of the High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices has been launched at a session of the Think20 Summit in Berlin by the commission’s co-chairs Joe Stiglitz (Professor Columbia University, New York; Nobel Prize for Economics) and Nicholas Stern (Grantham Research Institute, London School of Economics), along with commission members Mari Pangestu (Former Minister of Trade, Indonesia, and Professor at Columbia University) and Ottmar Edenhofer (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, he’s also leading the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change and is a Professor for climate economics at Technische Universität Berlin). The commission of 13 eminent economists from around the world has identified the range of prices on carbon needed to reach the Paris Agreement’s climate goals.

On this issue, Ottmar Edenhofer:

“It is a dirty lie that CO2 emissions from fossil fuels have so far come with no cost – they cost us human health, damage to our climate, and billions of Dollars in subsidies worldwide. Putting a clear price-tag on CO2 emissions means finally telling the truth. Pricing CO2 is key to climate stabilization. It unleashes market forces that will punish coal use and incentivize clean innovation. And instead of being another burden for the poor it can even drive social justice if income from CO2 pricing is given back to the people, as they do in Canada.”

“Around the world, pricing systems are being built up – from China to California in the US, and Europe can fix its emissions trading by introducing a minimum price. We can make this work if we really want to.”

The High Level Commission on Carbon Prices was established by the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition in late 2016 to examine the role of carbon pricing in achieving the Paris Agreement. It was supported by the Government of France and the World Bank Group.

The report “Report of the High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices” 

Source

Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung | Jonas Viering 2017