Economic Growth and Carbon Dioxide Emissions †MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about the Economic Growth and Carbon Dioxide Emissions. Answer: Introduction: Climate change is defined as the change in the global environment which occurred due to direct or indirect human practices. It is a result of increasing greenhouse gases in the environment due to human activities such as deforestation, use of non-renewable energy sources and burning of fossil fuel (Pindyck, 2013, p.865). In order to address this issue, the government can impose a carbon tax on carbon emissions of companies and people. A carbon tax is a fee that is imposed by the government on the use of fossil fuels or carbon-based fuels including gas, coal and oil (Murray and Rivers, 2015, p.678). Many countries including the United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia, Ireland and Chile has imposed a carbon tax policy (Carbon Tax, 2018, n.p). The issue is whether imposition of a carbon tax can assist in reducing carbon emissions caused by corporations and individuals that cause climate change. A carbon tax can increase the administrative costs for implementation and collection of tax which w ill slow down economic growth of countries. A carbon tax did not guarantee that carbon emissions will be reduced because companies can shift their locations to avoid carbon tax. Although the carbon tax can reduce carbon emissions by eliminating the use of fossil fuel in the manufacturing process, and it can increase the investment in renewable energy sources such as sunlight, tides, wind and biomass. However, carbon tax is not an effective option for mitigating the risk of climate change. It is difficult to increase investment in renewable energy because the administrative costs relating to managing and collecting of the carbon tax will be substantially high that will slow down the countrys economy. The government has to make high investments to ensure that every organisation pay carbon tax accordingly and it became a new burden for manufacturing firms, customers, society and the government. The manufacturing companies are more likely to increase prices for their products and services to mitigate the carbon tax expenses which increase the financial burden of the public (Conefrey et al., 2013, p.941). Furthermore, investors are less likely to invest in countries that impose a carbon tax to save capital which reduces their economy. In Australia, 93.38 percent of the energy consumed through fossil fuel which makes it difficult for the government to encourage organisations to use renewable energy sources (Trading Economics, 2018, n.p). Therefore, if a carbon tax is impose d, then prices of products and services will increase, and investment will decrease which will slow down the economic growth. However, a carbon tax can reduce carbon emissions of companies and individuals and increase the investment in renewable energy sources. Carbon tax encourages organisations to develop environment-friendly technology instead of using fossil fuels that are easily available and relatively cheaper but has a harmful impact on the environment. Due to a high rate of carbon tax, people would make efforts to find new and alternative sources of energy that are environment-friendly such as wind, solar energy, biomass, and tides (Ploeg and Withagen, 2014, p.283). For example, Australian companies are investing in wind power as a source of renewable energy which has grown 35 percent in five years up to 2011. These wind power sources generate 4,455 megawatts (MW) of energy as of 2017, and they are expected to increase up to 18,823 MW (Ramblingsdc, 2015, n.p). Therefore, if a carbon tax is imposed, then investment in renewable energy increases which address the issue of climate change. Although a carbon tax encourages investment in renewable energy, it is far from being an effective solution for climate change. Organisations are more likely to increase their products and services prices rather than investing in renewable energy sources because they require high level of investment. The government will also face difficulty in investing in renewable energy sources because the administration cost of imposing and collecting of carbon tax is substantially high (Aldy and Stavins, 2012, p.176). Investors also did not prefer to invest in countries that impose a high rate of carbon tax that would negatively affect the nations economic growth (Carl and Fedor, 2016, p.57). If carbon tax is imposed, then purchasing power and real (inflation-adjusted) salaries of people will be reduced. Therefore, carbon tax negatively affects a countrys economic growth. The government aims to reduce carbon emissions of corporations and people by imposing a carbon tax; however, it did not guarantee that global carbon emission will be reduced. One of the major contributors of greenhouse gases is manufacturing organisations; instead of paying a high rate of the carbon tax, these corporations can shift their production facilities to countries in which there is no policy of carbon tax (Martin, De Preux and Wagner, 2014, p.1). More than 53 percent of manufacturing work has been outsourced by companies to China and India because of lower labour costs and lack of carbon tax (Statistic Brain, 2017, n.p). Therefore, if a harmonised carbon tax system is not applied worldwide, then it cannot reduce carbon emissions of large companies since they can switch their production location which reduces the impact of a carbon tax system. A carbon tax reduces the negative impact of climate change by reducing huge amount of carbon emissions caused by manufacturing companies and individuals that increase greenhouse gases in the environment. If the government did not make appropriate efforts to reduce carbon emissions, then, it will damage the environment and its resources. In order to preserve the environment, the level of carbon dioxide emission is required to decrease that can be achieved by the imposition of a carbon tax (Samimi and Zarinabadi, 2012, p.1012). In Sweden, from 2000 to 2012, greenhouse gas emissions reduced by 16 percent (OCED, 2014, p.4). Between 1990 and 2005, Demark reported a reduction in carbon emissions per person by 15 percent (Nunez, 2018, n.p). As a result, if carbon tax is imposed, then environmental conditions can be improved. However, carbon tax cannot completely mitigate the risk of climate change because it did not implement across the world. It is not a suitable option due to lack of a globally harmonised carbon tax system. Countries such as Norway and Finland are able to effectively implement carbon tax because of stable economic conditions and low population in the country (Di Cosmo and Hyland, 2013, p.409). However, in large nations such as China, India, EU and USA, it is difficult for governments to impose and collect tax from all organisations effectively (Li et al., 2013, p.927). Countries such as China and India are heavily populated, and they make about 37 percent of worlds total carbon emissions (China 30 percent and India 7 percent) (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2017, n.p). If not efforts made by these two nations for reducing carbon emissions, then it is difficult to reduce carbon emissions around the world by imposing carbon tax. Therefore, carbon tax is not a suitable opt ion. In conclusion, a carbon tax policy can reduce carbon emissions of organisations and individuals, and it can increase the investment in green energy sources which can address the issue of climate change. However, governments face many financial and economic difficulties while implementing a carbon tax policy. It increases the financial burden on companies, people and government. Moreover, corporations can switch their production location to avoid carbon tax due to lack of harmonised carbon tax system worldwide. Therefore, carbon tax is not the best solution for addressing the issue of climate change. Thus, governments should seek other policies for addressing the issue of climate change such as eco-friendly transportation system or recycling and companies across the world should participate in such programs worldwide. 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