Today at Compass, we’re really excited to be bringing you the blog post from a runner up of our blog compeitition – A wonderful piece by student Harry Thompson. Harry presented an intresting, and well-formulated, argument for the most effective policy that governments can enact in a quest to tackle climate change. We would like to congratulate Harry, and extend our thanks to everyone that participated in the competition this year – We loved reading your responses! Without further ado, we’re going to hand over to Harry!
What is the most effective policy that governments can enact to tackle climate change?
Almost everybody in the world accepts now that climate change is one of the biggest issues facing humanity, and many are calling for the most powerful among our society to act on this issue; putting policies and systems in place to protect our fragile planet from the ever damaging effects of global warming.
Whilst many call for less use of disposable plastic bags, less reliance on landfill and a general individual response to the population’s responsibility in helping to prevent climate change, the truth is that whilst this helps, and works towards a goal that everyone should be aiming to achieve, this is simply not enough to tackle the issues the world faces. A huge amount of responsibility falls upon governments to put in place effective policies to regulate firms and their emissions.
According to a 2014 IPCC assessment report, the economic sector that contributes greatest to global greenhouse gas emissions is electricity and heat production, constituting for 25% of 2010 global greenhouse gas emissions. This is a sector not directly controlled by governments, but is an area that governments need to, and can, moderate.
The burning of fossil fuels as a means of energy production continues to be the most used source of energy internationally. Contributing hugely to global CO2 emissions, a viable alternative source is something that has been worked on for years. Germany is currently the country with the highest percentage of energy sourced renewably. One of the policies Germany employs is an eco-tax, which is designed to make non-renewable energy systematically expensive, and therefore undesirable to provide; creating an initiative for energy suppliers to focus their efforts on developing renewable, cheaper, energy. A percentage of the revenue made by the government as a result of the tax is put towards renewable energy development, aiding the firms. The remainder was put towards the public pension scheme, which was straining the German economy at the time the policy was introduced. This tax has been in place since 1999, and has been subject to change in both 2000 and 2003; these changes bringing with them gradually higher taxes on non-renewable emissions. Today, Germany leads the world in renewable energy; it accounts for 12.74 % of all German energy. Germany plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. The country has also set the target to become largely greenhouse gas-neutral by 2050.
A tax for energy production that reduces carbon emissions year on year appears a very good policy; especially when the revenue gained from that tax is used usefully and responsibly. Markets often allocate goods very effectively, but in a sector like energy production where the externality of environmental damage often becomes a public cost that the firm can simply ignore without consequence, intervention is needed. An incentive to switch to renewable energy has to be forced, and by controlling the economic conditions that these businesses work under, governments can also help these businesses with an element of predictability and warning, in contrast to fluctuating and unstable oil and natural gas prices. It sets out a clear aim for energy production companies, making renewable energy the cheapest and most profitable option for production.
Whilst this policy only applies to one of the many contributing factors to climate change, as energy and heat production accounts for the greatest percentage of greenhouse gas emissions, I believe that a strict ecological tax is the most effective individual policy governments could implement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore tackle climate change.
DISCLAIMER THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR ONLY AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE VIEWS OR OPINIONS OF COMPASS MAGAZINE AS A WHOLE OR THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY.