The Pnyx: Paths to climate solutions

Joshua Schuetz
Staff Writer

 I recently wrote about the rise of protest movements among the young concerning climate change. The question of what to do about climate change remains tricky to answer.

The only way to stop (and reverse) climate change is to reduce carbon emissions to zero and begin scrubbing carbon from the atmosphere. The technology to do the latter already exists, albeit not in a scalable form.

So, what can we do? My suggestion is to begin with a tax on carbon, which will raise quite a bit of revenue for the government. In addition, states can set additional carbon taxes if they so desire. This will incentivize businesses to reduce their emissions.

The second piece is aggressive public research into carbon capture, storage, and scrubbing technologies. This public research can be combined with tax credits to businesses which innovate in or adopt these technologies.

This will lead businesses, especially in the energy sector, to reduce emissions either by ceasing activities which emit carbon or by deploying carbon capture technologies to prevent their activities from releasing any. 

Renewable energy will play a role too, as should other forms of alternative energy.