Will cap and trade work?

**zach** · 02-01-2010, 09:47 AM

I was listening to a story on NPR about this topic a while back. I know some countries in the EU have already started using cap and trade. Some people think it works and others see it as just another way for traders to make money off of a commodity. What's your take?

**shiela_robins** · 02-20-2010, 05:42 PM

Looks like it is a money-making scheme. It doesn't give much incentive for companies to work hard not to go over the cap. They can easily buy it from another. Which countries in EU are doing the cap & trade system by the way?

**doubletrouble678** · 03-11-2010, 10:07 PM

Hi, everybody. I took a 'Modern Scholar' audio course on Global Warming not too long ago. It was lectured by a Harvard specialist in atmospheric sciences. His debrief in where the Cap n Trade system came from (last minute. 'let's end the meeting and talk this later' proposal by the USA Gov't in the closing days of the Clinton Administration) and how certain governments took it seriously while others (i.e. Bush) did not, was most revealing. The case history on how the CFC issue was successfully dealt with was another. I heard an NPR report recently about how European companies cap in thier homelands so that they can pollute in China. So, the system isn't perfect. I recommend this material to everyone who has time to investigate it. This is a big issue and voters need to make thier wishes known so that governments can take more bold action.

**longcall911** · 03-17-2010, 09:53 AM

I'm generally in favor of the cap part, and generally opposed to the trade part. If I cut my emissions by 10% then sell them, and the recipient outputs what I saved, where is the net gain?

**zach** · 03-17-2010, 10:00 AM

Originally Posted by longcall911

I'm generally in favor of the cap part, and generally opposed to the trade part. If I cut my emissions by 10% then sell them, and the recipient outputs what I saved, where is the net gain?

I completely agree. I guess a benefit could be that it gives companies an incentive to cut their emissions because they can sell that extra 10% and it puts a real $ cost on companies that have to buy that 10% extra when they go over their cap. I keep flip flopping on this issue. If done right it might work, as they decrease the supply (lower the cap) basic economics tells you that it should get more costly for companies and it might make sense for them to start considering reducing their emissions instead of buying credits.

**Kenneth Vronek** · 09-20-2011, 05:02 PM

Maybe I'm just not educated enough about this subject but I just can't see how cap and trade really helps the situation. As long as oil and coal are are primary energy sources for a lot of people then that's what's going to be used and it's still going to be used a lot. Cap and trade won't fix that problem if there aren't abundant, reliable eco-friendly energy sources available. All it really does is hurt consumers because energy companies will just jack up energy prices. Instead of focusing on cap and trade, there needs to be a focus on significantly increasing the amount of eco-friendly energy sources to compete with oil and coal. And once there is an abundant supply of green energy sources then they can begin to phase out oil and coal and replace them with green energy sources. But cap and trade doesn't do anything to create green energy sources so I really don't think it does any good at all. But that's just me.