The Influence Of Our Environment Has Always Impacted Us,

Global warming has become an undisputed fact about our current livelihoods; our planet is warming up and we are definitely part of the problem. However, this isn’t the only environmental problem that we should be concerned about. All across the world,

“Scientists’ overwhelming conclusion is that climate change is happening and human activity is the primary culprit,” (“Climate Change”). The world we live in is falling apart more and more every day. Pollution; Global Warming; Climate Change; These are all problems that caused by people who have come forward in recent years, one of the biggest issues is climate change. The United States government needs to take aggressive steps to combat climate change because scientist have warned that if the climate changing progresses at its current rate, it could have disastrous consequences for life on Earth. Data shows that climate change is linked to rising sea levels, droughts, an increase in the risk of extinction of many species, and the increase in severe storms. With all the issues that are connected to climate change we are not doing enough to try to counteract the lasting effects it has on our environment.

Climate change is the most serious issue humankind is facing in the 21th century. Future generations depend on our ability to make the necessary social changes, before reaching the tipping point of irreversibility, which will lead the planet into a catastrophe incompatible with life.

The world’s climate is changing, and the effects of it will not only affect the inhabitants and the planet, but also humans. Everyone usually only pays attention to the weather on a weekly or even a monthly basis. However, humans don’t pay attention to the changes that they are causing. Very few people actually accept that they are the ones who are causing it and that they are also the ones that can help with the issue. It is time to take action on this problem that will only continue to cause horrible consequences and the only way to do that is having humans change their ways. Even starting with the smallest way can have a dramatic change if everyone is doing it.

Cap-and-trade is environmentally and economically approach to capping and controlling greenhouse gas emissions which is the primary cause of global warming. It is a policy move aimed at controlling large amounts of gas emissions from a cluster of sources. This approach sets an overall cap which is the maximum amount of gas emissions per a stipulated compliance period, for all the sources under that particular program.

A cap-and-trade program sets a maximum level of pollution, and distributes emission permits among firms that produce emissions (Carbon Tax, 2013). The purpose of which is regulation of specific emissions by stationary and mobile sources, and setting a specific level which all emitters are re-quired to meet. Cap-and-trade possibly has less of a direct economic component to it than the other alternatives to reducing emissions described due to the ability to trade permits versus the expendi-ture of resources improving technology, with some arguing it is to the detriment of the environment. As stated in the article found in Reclaiming the Environmental Agenda, by Ashford, N. et al., 2008, “being a market-based instrument, ‘the cap-and-trade option suggests that at least this form of MBI may be more environmentally effective than the usual command-and-control alternatives, in addition to being more economically efficient.” (Ashford, N. and Caldart, C., 2008, p. 908).

The cap on the market is set on carbon emissions, creating scarcity within the market. At the end of each year businesses within the scheme are required to ensure they have enough allowances to account for their installation’s actual emissions. Those firms that do not comply and pollute without sufficient permits are hit with heavy fines. (Euro 100 per ton). The aim of carbon trading is to create a market in pollution permits and put a price on carbon. In this way, policy can help internalise external costs of firms’ production and encourage lower emissions to tackle climate change. In a cap and trade system, the volume permits would gradually decline and total emissions, in theory, will diminish. The model of such can be shown as

Cap and trade is a system aimed at diminishing the rate at which carbon is emitted into the atmosphere by creating an economic system based on meeting a certain minimal threshold or paying low-emitting companies for the right to emit in their place. For example, if company A only emits half of the emissions cap, that company can sell (or trade) the remaining credits to company B, should company B choose to emit one-and-a-half times the cap. A main objection to the cap and trade system is that it is not a strong enough means by which to curb emissions of fossil fuels and is inferior to specifically stronger carbon taxes. While initially appealing, the notion of simply strengthening carbon taxes fails to properly stifle carbon emissions and to adequately incentivize “green” development in comparison to the cap and trade system, preventing carbon taxes from occupying a central role to mitigate carbon emissions.

Cap-and-trade is a program which uses a market-based mechanism to control greenhouse gas emissions, the primary driver of global warming. The “cap” sets a limit on emissions, which is lowered over time to reduce the amount of pollutants released into the atmosphere. It limits emissions in electric power generation, natural gas, transportation, and large manufacturers. The “trade” creates a market for carbon allowances, leading to more cost-effective pollution cuts, and incentive to invest in cleaner technology. The less they emit, the less they pay, so it is in their economic incentive to pollute less. Each allowance (typically equivalent to one metric ton of carbon dioxide) are auctioned or allocated to regulated emitters on a regular basis.

It is said that (Revelle 2009) ‘A cap-and-trade system emissions by limiting the quantity of a pollutant (carbon dioxide [CO2]) that can be emitted and then allocating a corresponding number of tradable emissions permits to sources covered by the program’. The total allowed emissions are separated into individual permits which are allocated to the sources covered by the program; each presents the right to emit a certain quantity of the pollutant. At the end of the year, the emissions of each regulated source must be reported to be retired from the system. It is also mentioned that

Government enacted solutions are probably the most effective ways to reduce carbon emissions and to control pollution since unfortunately the majority of individuals mainly act to their own self-interest and are not concerned with the future of the planet. This is a prime example of the tragedy of the commons, which is the exploitation of a common resource. In this case the common resource is the atmosphere. The first method proposed is the carbon cap trade system. The term cap means the limit or the maximum of the amount of pollutant to be emitted. A trade refers to the transfer of permits that have to be bought by firms that need to increase their volume of emissions from firms that require fewer permits 1. The carbon tax method is a tax on the carbon content of fuels — effectively a tax on the carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels 2. So, which system would be best for the government to enact to reduce carbon emissions in the atmosphere?

“The cap”: Each large-scale emitter, or company, will have a limit on the amount of greenhouse gas that it can emit. “The trade”: It will be relatively cheaper or easier for some companies to reduce their emissions below their required limit than others. These more efficient companies, who emit less than their allowance, can sell their extra permits to companies that are not able to make reductions as easily.

Much policy discussion about climate change suggests that surplus carbon emissions are the result of failure of the market. Since the ongoing costs of environmental degradation and climate change are not internalized in pricing fossil fuel; a commonsense (and widely flavored by policy makers in the international community) economic solution is to internalize the cost of carbon emissions. Cap and trade emissions trading schemes have proven largely popular in the global policy-making community, as they enable market flexibility and allow for international targets to be met.

Firstly, it can effectively decrease the total amount of carbon emission by changing the behavior of numbers of carbon-based industries, especially when the price on emission is high enough. For example, according to the result from the case study for the effectiveness of implementing carbon pricing in Australia, “more reasonable emission reduction can be observed at the carbon price of above $46. In fact, increasing the carbon price to double its 2012 rate would result in about four times improvement in carbon emission”(Behnam,et,al, 2013). Putting it in another way, it is not hard to understand that the industries with imposed carbon tax will automatically switch the conventional way of generating energy from the combustion of fossil fuels to a more environmental friendly way in which taking advantage of cleaner renewable resources like wind, solar can reduce the amount of carbon if the cost of emitting greater greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is higher than the benefit of doing that. In addition, the carbon price will promote the potential development of clean technologies. For example, “a carbon price will lead to growing US demand for green technologies to reduce CO2 emission, which will incentivize greater levels of global R&D into such technologies”(Meltzer, 2014). To demonstrate, it is a noteworthy fact that more and more scientists will develop an increasing number of clean technologies if the fund collected from the carbon tax is financially sufficient enough to support for their researches. In effect, Lawrence & Koshy (2000) found that, “carbon taxes therefore provide a double dividend-internalizing the cost of the environmental harm from CO2 emission and producing green technologies through induced innovation”. Beside that, in the cap and trade system, the exchange of permit for carbon emission is not

The earth is a beautiful and extraordinary planet, but are we treating it right? For the past 20 decades, temperatures have been rising along with hundreds of factors contributing to it. Climate change concerns the public as they wonder if its occurring, how much has occurred in the modern era, what has caused it, what the effects will be if we don’t do anything about it and much more. Many people and scientist agree that mankind is the number one cause of climate change. Humans have influenced this by greenhouse gases, methane nitrous oxide.