“Cap and trade” emissions programs have always struck a dubious note for me, and yesterday’s “Cashing in on Carbon” conference in London further reinforced my suspicions.   I’m all for polluters limiting their greenhouse gas output, and I have always argued that major environmental improvements for industries will come from economic incentives, but carbon trading seems like the old bait-and-switch deception long practiced by industry hucksters.   Sure they have to limit their emissions to a degree, but then they can buy up carbon credits all over they place, appearing to their shareholders and the public as environmental stewards, when in fact, they are continuing to spew huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.   And now we have industry leaders huddled in dark rooms scheming to make the most money from this shell game.

Both presidential candidates espouse the benefits of “cap and trade”, but this tumultuous economy may not lend itself to good time to tax industries for their carbon emissions.   Arguably, clean energy would benefit from the program, because they wouldn’t have to purchase carbon credits and therefore wouldn’t have to charge consumers as much.   But ultimately we need to phase out our reliance on fossil fuels and allowing those industries to cover their dirty tracks doesn’t seem to be the wisest route.   That said, it may be a piece of the climate change puzzle and a way to reign in the worst offenders, at least temporarily.

takepart by finding out what you can do to help make the switch to clean energy with Wecansolveit.org.

Related:

Inconvenient Truth of the Day

Green Policies Are Good For The Economy, Too!

Don’t Let Falling Oil Prices Slow the Push For Alternative Energy

Photo: zizzybaloobah’s Flickr photostream shared under Creative Commons license