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Cap-and-trade system insufficient to prompt renewable energy roll out, part 1 of 2
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President Obama estimates that a cap-and-trade system will fund clean
energy investments totaling $150 billion over 10 years
(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Will a cap-and-trade system, the centerpiece in President Obama’s budget, really manage to address climate change and end U.S addiction to oil? Well, it depends whom you ask. A new report from the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas, for example, states that there has been little indication that cap-and trade will lower emissions.
“These programs have not lowered overall emissions in developed countries. In the European Union emissions of carbon dioxide have gone up, not down. By contrast, CO2 emission in the United States which did not ratify the Kyoto treaty, have grown much more slowly than in the EU, even declining in 2006” (NCPA Brief Analysis no 646).
Although greenhouse gas emissions per capita varies widely among European countries, the recent years increase has only been in the EU-12. According to the European Environment Agency average per capita emissions decreased in EU-27 between 1990 and 2006.
But will a cap-and-trade system end U.S addiction to oil? President Obama estimates that the program will fund vital investments in clean energy, totaling $150 billion over 10 years starting in 2012.
Not likely. A report by the World Economic Forum finds that at least for the next decades or so, carbon prices alone will be insufficient to prompt a large-scale roll out of renewable energy. Nor will the prices be sufficient to promote carbon capture and sequestration.
Special Report: Obama's First 100 DaysExclusive examiner.com coverage of the Obama administration's promise to bring about change.
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