Carbon taxes and emissions trading are cheapest ways of reducing CO2, OECD says

Carbon taxes and emission trading systems are the most cost-effective means of reducing CO2 emissions, and should be at the centre of government efforts to tackle climate change, according to a new OECD study.

Effective Carbon Prices shows that taxes and trading systems are preferable to other policies, such as feed-in tariffs, subsidies and other regulatory instruments. For example, the average cost of reducing a tonne of carbon emissions in the road transport sector can be up to eight times higher when instruments other than fuel taxes are used, according to the report.

“Countries are pricing carbon in a multitude of ways, not always the most effective,” said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría. "There has been a huge amount of taxing and regulating around carbon, with prices established too high or too low, and the outcome has been far from optimal. This is a chaotic landscape that sends no clear signal, and must be addressed.”

See full Article: http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/carbon-taxes-and-emissions-trading-are-cheapest-ways-of-reducing-co2.htm