Photograph by Rich Pedroncelli, AP Images
Refineries like this one in Rodeo, California, face the prospect of paying to pollute. With an online auction, California launched its own cap-and-trade system with an aim of curbing carbon dioxide emissions 20 percent over the next eight years. Proponents hope it will serve as a model for wider action in the United States and globally.
Earlier this year, Australia launched its own modified "carbon tax." Coal-dependent Australia has one of the world's most carbon-intensive economies, but concern over climate change is high, as the nation has faced drought and wildfire and the degradation of its tourist gem, the Great Barrier Reef.
The challenge is great for jurisdictions that act on their own. Some in British Columbia are now questioning its pioneering carbon tax enacted in 2008, despite popular support for the plan. Proponents hope efforts here and elsewhere will serve as a model for the kind of wider global action that is needed.
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