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Collaborative Essay D1

  Positive and Negative Effects of Carbon Taxes 

                                     Fatima Khaled Moflehi

                                      City College Of New York 

                                      FIQWS: Scientific World 

                               Professor Lindeman and Dr. Gunner

                                   11/30/2023

Positive And Negative Effects of Carbon Taxes

Carbon Dioxide emissions (CO2) stem from burning fossil fuels and cement manufacturing (Eurostat August 2023). Due to its ability to absorb radiation and prevent heat from escaping the atmosphere, CO2 has become the leading cause of global warming, climate change, increased ocean acidity, and air pollution. Because of the dangers of carbon emissions, the idea of “carbon taxes” was introduced. With a carbon tax, the government sets a price that emitters must pay for each ton of greenhouse gas emissions. Although carbon taxes present many advantages, there are many conflicting disadvantages, especially between environmental sustainability and socio-economical considerations. Listing these advantages and disadvantages can give a more broadened, comprehensive view of its effects, which can ultimately push for more appropriate methods to meet the satisfaction of all parties involved.

The fundamental logic of a carbon tax policy is that if you want less of something, you make it more expensive (Jangira Lewis, 2021). In order to be effective, the tax must be high enough for highly polluting corporations to change their energy sources to more sustainable sources while also ensuring that they can still make profits as a company. Carbon taxes bring two sides of interest, one for energy sustainability and the other for economic prosperity, to a shared table. Proponents or supporters of implementing carbon taxes believe that going through with this policy will reduce carbon emissions significantly and increase the price of a chain of carbon-emitting industries that will open doors for major sustainable decisions made by consumers. Individual choices and use of vehicles, appliances, and housing, to businesses’ choices of new product designs, capital investments, and facilities location (“Why Carbon Tax?” October 5, 2020). 

Another Proponent’s argument on the carbon tax policy is that increasing the return on investment for clean energy sources would drive new investment in existing green energy technologies and encourage innovative technologies to come to market (Alex Brill, 2019). A more sustainable economy is said to come into play with carbon taxes, opening up new markets and producing an economy with more jobs. By increasing energy costs, more investments toward low-carbon projects could generate over USD 17 trillion in savings by mid-century (Gouldson et al., 2015).  An argument raised against a carbon tax is that it would affect most consumers, especially low-income families. It has been found in a study that if carbon taxes were implemented, the price of electricity would be 10x more, and the price of gasoline would have three or four dollars added to it (Kevin Drum, 2019). When these concerns were raised, carbon tax proponents mentioned giving out rebates from the tax revenue collected to help low-income families cover the costs. This was also criticized because when you cover the costs of the increased expense on energy, people would be able to afford using high carbon products and continue using the same amount of energy (Kevin Drum 2019).

In Conclusion, efforts to lead a greener and cleaner economy would benefit and resolve the many negative impacts greenhouse gasses have caused and will cause in the future to our planet, But making those efforts require a lot of complications and troubles that become evident with the over dependence on fossil fuels. Supporters of carbon tax can see the change on carbon emissions and decrease of greenhouse gasses but opposers can see the impacts of the taxes directly on citizens who would have to spend a higher portion of their budget on energy costs. The different factors of carbon tax need to be viewed in order to confidently say that carbon tax is truly a beneficial and sustainable economical solution to carbon emissions.

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