Carbon Wars?

 


What the hell is it? Is it a tax? Is it a levy? Does it matter?

As I read it, they're talking about a global price on carbon. The idea seems to be that countries that introduce carbon pricing face unfair competition from countries that don't.

The plan is to "make sure that regulations on a price on carbon pollution apply fairly between trading partners," said the budget document. "This levels the playing field, ensures competitiveness, and protects our shared environment."

It's prompted, in part, by fear of a Rust Belt repeat. Then, industries hollowed out in rich countries as manufacturing chased cheaper labour. This time, the draw would be from countries with climate regulations to those without.

So far, the border charge, which is officially not a tax at all but "border adjustments" has garnered little attention outside specialist circles. But according to Aaron Cosbey, one of Canada's foremost experts on the subject, that is about to change.

The idea of a border charge is to address concerns that in countries with a price on carbon, like Canada, domestic players making, say, aluminum are at a disadvantage compared to imported goods from countries without those regulations. The fear is, that could entice companies that need aluminum to source it from the U.S. or somewhere else that doesn't have a carbon tax because it's cheaper than Canadian-made aluminum.

"Maybe don't say cross border carbon taxes," Cosbey said in an email following our conversation, clarifying how to describe the content of the forthcoming report. "From a WTO-legal perspective a tax, a tariff, and a regulation are really different things, and the current Canadian regime is probably not a tax – it's a regulation."

It strikes me that this could be a regulation to the country imposing the charge but it would seem like a tariff of, worse, a carbon tax in the eyes of the country on the receiving end. And we know, when it comes to tariffs, China has really sharp elbows and it's not interested in fine points of international comity. 

What about the petulant petro-provinces, especially Alberta, desperate to deflect the blame for their own incompetence on someone, anyone else? Their pot-of-gold, bitumen, the ultimate high-carbon/low-value ersatz petroleum is, like coal, a stranded asset-in-waiting. That "carbon bubble" is ready to burst and when (not if, when) it does, the pain will be felt in western Canada.


Comments

  1. A sign of hope.

    https://driving.ca/tesla/model-3/auto-news/news/b-c-tops-north-america-for-electric-vehicle-uptake-in-2020-says-minister


    TB

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A classmate of mine just bought a Tesla, TB. She hasn't quite given up her old Audi because she finds the Tesla a bit like learning to drive an iPad.

      Delete
    2. "a bit like learning to drive an iPad."

      a bit?

      They ditched the dashboard ... replaced it with an effing computer screen.

      Delete
  2. I became confused with cars when they replaced the starter pull on my Morris Minor.

    https://www.mmoc.org.uk/Messageboard/viewtopic.php?t=60823

    Thank goodness for the hand crank.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyuf_oa1MC4

    Mound, whats an I Pad, is it for feminine protection?

    TB

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Global warming will happen faster than we think
    Three trends will combine to hasten it,
    warn Yangyang Xu, Veerabhadran Ramanathan and David G. Victor."

    https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07586-5

    ReplyDelete
  4. A little ray of sunshine in a dark sky.

    "Why I Am Not a Climate Doomist"

    "While some climate doomists believe they are grounded in science, that humanity has passed tipping points that will push climate disruption beyond any possibility of mitigation, more generally the issue is one of human agency. Yes, theoretically we could deal with climate at the necessary scope and scale, but the forces of institutional inertia will put us over the line. So while we may not be scientifically doomed, politically and socially, we are. That is why the people-powered climate movement is so important.

    On the current trajectory, we are doomed.

    But we can alter the trajectory.

    Today’s movement affirms we have agency in the issue, that we can change the story in time, and spur the needed scale of action. Its successes in recent years have gone far towards doing just that. That is why I am not a climate doomist."

    https://theraven.substack.com/p/why-i-am-not-a-climate-doomist

    ReplyDelete

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