European carbon market suffers in annus horribilis

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has vilified political opponents who support a tax on carbon-dioxide emissions. The oil sands industry, Canada’s fastest growing CO2 polluter, says he’s out of step. The contradiction of an industry seeking a new tax on itself has emerged in energy-rich Canada because producers are concerned the crude they process from tar-like sands will be barred from foreign markets for releasing more carbon in its production than competing fossil fuels. At least with a tax, you know what you’re getting

The Wall Street Journal reports Emissions trading in Europe in Tatters. The European Union's flagship program to fight global warming—a regional carbon-emissions trading system—suffered a major blow Tuesday when legislators rejected a proposal aimed at saving the market from collapse.

LAST week, a Twitter conversation broke out among a few economists concerning whether any serious economists opposed a carbon tax. No, concluded the tweeters, but Tyler Cowen begged to differ. Mr Cowen writes that he personally favours a carbon tax but can imagine a number of principled reasons other economists might not.