Carbon Taxes in the Bay Area

I read about the tax of 4.4 cents per metric ton of CO2 equivalent for all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions a few months ago but forgot to blog on it.

The tax is important for a few reasons:

• It's a tax! On all GHG!
• It was approved in late May and went into effect on July 1.
• It's small enough (4.4 cents/ton CO2 equivalent is way lower than $30/ton (approx.) for CO2 permits in Europe.) to get going, but the infrastructure -- once established -- can be used for a 44 cent or $44 tax.

Read page 44 of this PDF to find out the GHG equivalents.

Bottom Line: Carbon taxes are easier to implement and easier to understand than Cap and Trade.