The Hindu Business Line : Climate expert urges introduction of carbon fee

Action plan
Oil and other polluting energy companies should be charged carbon fee.
It would lead to an increase in energy prices which, in turn, could be rationalised through subsidies.
The tax money could then be injected back into the economy to develop green technologies.

Rahul Wadke

Mumbai, Nov. 8 The subject of climate change has become an obsession globally.

While steps are being taken to cut carbon levels by 80 per cent in the next four decades, scientists say that maintaining the carbon dioxide layer at 450 parts per million will ensure that the world’s average temperature does not increase beyond two degrees Celsius from the 1990 levels.

The bad news, going by NASA’s latest scientific research, is that the 450 ppm level could destroy Greenland and the Antarctic ice sheets while spawning a rise in sea levels. The new thought process now is to reduce it further to 350 ppm.

Mr Johan Rockström, Executive Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and board member of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact, is at the forefront of policy research for climate change. He told Business Line that there was a global climate emergency which had to be arrested.

Carbon fee

“We will have to suck out all the carbon dioxide. It cannot be addressed by short-term measures such as adjusting fuel standards and new energy-efficient techniques.

“We need to introduce a carbon fee, and not tax, with renewed vigour worldwide.

“It should act as a disincentive to keep dirty, carbon-spewing technologies while giving incentives for cleaner and sustainable ones,” Mr Rockström said.

According to him, oil and other polluting energy companies should be charged this fee.

It would lead to an increase in energy prices which, in turn, could be rationalised through subsidies. The tax money could then be injected back into the economy to develop green technologies.

“We are not advocating the shutting down of the market economy but simply shifting taxes. Reducing corporate tax and increasing the carbon fee also be another alternative. The carbon fee can be easily handled unlike setting up a carbon trading market,” Mr Rockström said.

Focus on renewable resources

India, he added, needed to introduce a ‘feed-in tariff’ which is a renewable energy law where suppliers are obligated to buy electricity produced from renewable resources at a fixed price. This legal guarantee would ensure investment security and the support of all viable renewable energy technologies.

“It is one reason why large-scale solar or wind projects are not being set up here. Countries such as Portugal and Germany have been operating this model for many years now,” Mr Rockström said.

“We need a globally binding climate agreement in terms of a reduction of emissions, adaptation funding and technology-transfer funding. It can be done through Greenhouse Development Rights, a scientifically-based burden-sharing regime between countries,” he added

According to Mr Rockström, countries such as Sweden and the US should ideally target a 100 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2020, while India ought to focus on alternative sources of energy.

“Sweden cannot be carbon-free by 2020 but if it gets (carbon free) up to 40 per cent, it should invest the remaining money to develop green technologies globally,” he said.

The second largest carbon dioxide emitter globally is the domestic wood stove where India is the largest polluter.

Mr Rockström says these stoves must give way to solar cookers and other cooking options.

These could pose challenges in terms of affordability and taste but clearly there was no other option.