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Evaluate carbon trading, green taxes and regulation as means of reducing emissions. (12) -Only evaluate 2 out the 3 methods. With the threat of global warming, it is now very crucial that the governments and organisations such as the EU create solutions to mitigate carbon emission. Carbon Trading Carbon trading is a means which first appeared in the Kyoto Protocol in 1990. The scheme works by making carbon emissions into a commodity and creating a carbon market. Each country is given allocated amounts of carbon emission and countries which exceed that amount must by carbon credits of countries that have spare emissions to sell. The method works because we have empirical research that emissions have not been increasing like they would have, according to predictions.The method also involves the whole globe which makes results appear much more faster. However, having said that some of the worlds biggest polluters e.g. China are exempt from this because of their economic stage, they are still in some senses a developing country. This means the rest of the world is continually cutting their emissions; figure 1 even shows that the USA will have cut its emission by more than half is 2025 whereas China would have more than doubled. Therefore, the method isnt fair because why should some countries be exempt when in the end climate will effect the whole globe. Also, it is based on the huge assumption that carbon dioxide is the main cause of global warming, however, according to scientist it is actually dangerous nitrogenous gases.Yet, this is not considered in the emission scheme (hence the name carbon emissions). In conclusion the method is not a success because in the long-term to get results it is important to involve all countries and create permits not just for carbon but for nitrogenous gasses too. Regulations Carbon emission are called negative externalities as they are costs to society that companies do not pay for. Enforcing regulations is one way in which governments can reduce the amount of externalities that are produced. These regulations can be created by firms too. Regulations can range from; making consumers pay for plastic bag to creating congestion charge zones. They can be extremely effective for example the congestion charge

regulations have encouraged people to invest in hybrid cars and encouraged many citizens to travel by public transport. A regulation which Obama was looking at closely, earlier this year, was straight carbon-tax where firms will taxed on the number of tons of carbon they emit. This is a way of internalizing costs and making firms think about how much they are polluting and ultimately encourage them to invest in green technology and cut their emissions. However, this regulation is not going to take place because the problem with regulations is that some people manage to escape it. The biggest problem is that firms affected may move somewhere else as regulations are not made on a global level. Regulations can create adverse effects on the economy too. The most important part of regulations is weighing up the costs against benefits. This can be hard as many benefits are based on assumptions. Global warming is one big assumptions because it is based on the assumption that climate change is man-made not a part of a natural cycle or that in the long-term it is extremely adverse for the world - not that it will just form some changes in the way countries work. It also means for future generations, present generations and generations will have to be restricted some activity that they would have wanted to participate in. Is this really fair and would people actually be bothered? In conclusion, in the long-term regulations may work in bringing favorable changes to our society but in the short-term there will be many economic setbacks and social issues e.g. question of fairness. So I believe that this method isnt successful either because for long-term affects to be favorable, short-term impacts cannot be so severe to for example the economy.