Lump of Coal About 17 countries plus the EU presently have national carbon pricing. Some countries are threatening border taxes to prevent so-called carbon leakage, whereby countries with less punitive policies on carbon would otherwise have a competitive advantage. Critics have charged that such measures would likely violate the WTO. Perhaps reinforcing that notion, World Trade Organization Deputy Director-General Jean-Marie Paugam said this week that a global carbon price is the “first, best approach” to addressing climate change. This echoes the OECD effort to adopt a global minimum corporate tax, which remains in limbo. Achieving a global agreement on taxing carbon and at what level likely proves to be even more daunting th...

TAGS – Europe, North America