Green Pulse Ep 57: Taking climate action by putting a price on carbon (Pt 1)

18:52 mins

Synopsis: Every first and third Monday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change.

Climate scientists have sounded the alarm bells for humanity. Now, it is time for policy makers to act. One strategy to reduce emissions of planet-warming gases is to put a price on carbon. By making emitters pay to pollute, the hope is that they take serious action to curb their release of planet-warming carbon dioxide.

In this episode, environment correspondent Audrey Tan and climate change editor David Fogarty discuss the issue with Dr Vinod Thomas, a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore who was a former World Bank vice-president. 

They discuss the following points: 

1. What does it mean to put a price on something as intangible as carbon dioxide? (1:12)
2. What are the three main mechanisms through which carbon is priced? (3:10) 
3. Singapore is reviewing its current carbon tax rate and wants to open a carbon credit exchange. How significant are Singapore’s efforts to price carbon? (10:33) 
4. What are obstacles to pricing carbon right? (15:16) 

Listen to Pt 1: Overcoming obstacles to pricing carbon right - https://omny.fm/shows/green-pulse-1/overcoming-obstacles-to-pricing-carbon-right-pt-2

Understand more about a carbon price floor: https://blogs.imf.org/2021/06/18/a-proposal-to-scale-up-global-carbon-pricing/

Produced by: Audrey Tan (audreyt@sph.com.sg), David Fogarty (dfogarty@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis & Hadyu Rahim

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim

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