A taxing question: Does carbon pricing hold the key to making the world carbon neutral before 2050?

Debate over levies must now turn to action

COP26 is fast approaching, when country after country will announce their plans to cut carbon emissions. What tools can be used to bring about the much needed but massive realignments of economies and societies?

Carbon pricing is an idea whose time has come. Indeed, in January 2019 more than 3,500 economists signed the Climate Leadership Council's statement calling for a carbon tax as "the most cost-effective lever to reduce carbon emissions at the scale and speed that is necessary." Carbon taxes go back a long way - the Finnish version was created in 1990. The good news is that there are more than 60 carbon tax and emission trading systems around the world. The bad news is that they cover only 22% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Is it too much to hope for a climate revolution in finance ...