A review of “Pricing Carbon Emissions. Economic Reality and Utopia” by Aviel Verbruggen

Abstract

According to Verbruggen the main obstacle to a decarbonized future of the European Union and partly also the World is the notion that the buying and selling of permits to emit CO2 is a panacea. On all possible accounts it has, however, proven to be a dead end. So rather than repeatedly remedying the system all attempts to implement such a general solution should be abandoned entirely. This could then pave the way for a more targeted ‘Act Now’ policy aiming at reducing the level of CO2 emissions to zero as quickly as possible. If you wish to know more about why ‘pricing carbon emissions’ as a general policy is the wrong way to go, the book by Verbruggen is required and indispensable reading.

Keywords

• Book review
• Pricing the priceless
• Carbon dioxide emissions
• Transition to carbon-neutral energy systems