Climate Taxation Distraction Accelerating Global Warming

Faith in market ideology has encouraged belief that carbon markets will mitigate global warming by buying carbon credits to release greenhouse gases (GHGs). Carbon offset markets claiming to achieve net-zero emissions actually offer ways to avoid emission cuts. Various discounts undermine their purported efficacy and impact. Ignoring equity considerations, such as common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR), carbon markets favor the powerful, with little actual decarbonization. The European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is biased and protectionist. In practice, the market approach is too biased and slow to meet the increasingly urgent global heating challenge.