ABSTRACT
Setting ambitious net-zero targets should be matched by a global agreement to price carbon with progressive increases over time and so affect incentives, markets, and individual behaviours. Negotiators preparing for COP26 know carbon taxes and mechanisms exist in many markets, but the levels and rates are insufficient to achieve net-zero goals. Governments that act and address net zero through rising carbon prices should proceed regardless of whether there are those that refuse to act and pursue net-zero goals. The chapter addresses the importance of commitments, rising carbon prices, the creation of a coalition of the willing, and enforcement of our common carbon-price goals. A carbon price can be applied as a direct tax, the simplest and most efficient option. In 2018, Canada passed a federal carbon pricing law aimed at reducing greenhouse gases emissions. The Biden administration should establish national, US-wide emissions trading system, as well as a tax on carbon.
