The hope here is that such an act will provide a forceful nudge to state residents to drive more electric vehicles that typically have no tailpipe emissions.Īlthough there is nothing wrong with using price and quantity control instruments to fight climate change, these traditional tools have not done enough to put a dent in the massive problem that confronts us. For instance, California Governor Gavin Newsom recently stated that by 2035, his state would ban the sales of new gasoline powered cars and light trucks. Occasionally, politicians have even advocated the use of bans to alter human behavior.

Efforts have largely been concentrated on creating the right incentives to get people and firms to diminish their use of fossil fuels and move toward renewable energy sources. To address this problem, economists and policymakers have generally advocated the use of price (tax) and quantity control (carbon credits) instruments. Metaphorically speaking, these emissions can be thought of as a blanket that wraps planet Earth, traps the sun’s heat and raises the Earth’s surface temperature.

This generates emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. Although the long-term changes in temperatures and weather patterns that we are talking about are caused, at least to some extent, by natural forces, there is consensus today that at least since the 1800s, human activities have been the primary factor in making climate change the salient problem that it is today.īurning fossil fuels - examples include coal, oil, and gas - is the main human activity that has contributed to the rise in the Earth’s surface temperature. Scientists, economists and policymakers throughout the world now agree that climate change is the most serious environmental problem confronting humankind today. Gosnell professor of economics at the Rochester Institute of Technology originally appeared in the San Antonio Express-News. Briscoe Endowed Chair in Business in the Carlos Alvarez College of Business and Amitrajeet A. OCTOEditor’s note: This op-ed by Hamid Beladi, Janey S.

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