Carbon tax for China?
Harvard analysts behind a new book on air quality in China see in its polluted clouds a possible silver lining, one that would address both pollution and rising emissions of climate-warming carbon dioxide: a tax on carbon. Reports from the world’s most populous nation regularly detail the horrid air quality afflicting many of its urban areas — including the virtual shutdown of Harbin, a northeast city of 6 million, in October. There has also been ample coverage of China’s ascendancy to the top of the ranks of carbon dioxide emitters. But what’s less well known, the analysts say, is that China in recent years has taken aggressive actions to try to improve air quality and cut greenhouse gas emissions, steps that have dwarfed the efforts of many other nations. In the last 10 years, China has developed the world’s largest capacity for wind power, with plans to triple that capacity by 2020. The...