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Global carbon pricing hits $50 billion

By Roseline Okere
29 September 2015   |   11:11 pm
A new World Bank report showed that the number of implemented or planned carbon pricing schemes around the world has almost doubled since 2012, with existing schemes now worth about $50 billion. According to the World Bank report on carbon pricing released recently, about 40 nations and 23 cities, states or regions are using a…
World Bank Group

World Bank Group. Photo: techcabal

A new World Bank report showed that the number of implemented or planned carbon pricing schemes around the world has almost doubled since 2012, with existing schemes now worth about $50 billion.

According to the World Bank report on carbon pricing released recently, about 40 nations and 23 cities, states or regions are using a carbon price.

This, it noted, represents the equivalent of about seven billion tons of carbon dioxide, or 12 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions.

It disclosed that around the world, about 40 national and 23 city, states and regions were using carbon pricing schemes, like emissions trading systems (ETS) or carbon taxes. These represent about seven billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, or 12 per cent of global greenhouse emissions, a threefold increase over the past decade.

To help countries navigate the waters, the World Bank Group released a report today on the FASTER Principles, which helps governments and business develop efficient and cost-effective instruments to put a price on the social costs of emissions.

The FASTER principles are: F for fairness; A for alignment of policies and objectives; S for stability and predictability; T for transparency; E for efficiency and cost-effectiveness and R for reliability and environmental integrity.

“With COP21 fast approaching, the need for meaningful carbon policies is more important than ever. Carbon pricing is central to the quest for a cost-effective transition towards zero net emissions in the second half of the century.

These principles, it hinted, will help governments to incorporate carbon pricing as a key part of their policy toolkit.

The research draws on over a decade of experiences with carbon pricing initiatives around the world, such as emissions trading systems and taxes in places like the European Union, British Columbia, Denmark, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

It points to what’s been learnt to date: well-designed carbon pricing schemes are a powerful and flexible tool that can cut emissions that cause climate change and if adequately designed and implemented can play a key role in enhancing innovation and smoothing the transition to a prosperous, low-carbon global economy.

“Carbon pricing is effective in reducing emissions that cause climate change, is straightforward to administer, can raise valuable revenues for broader fiscal reforms, and can help address local pollution as well as global climate change.

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