Net zero - why we need a carbon border tax

It is simply not good enough to reduce terrestrial carbon production emissions to net zero by 2050 on a unilateralist basis, and to expect that this means we stop causing climate change. It doesn’t. It could even make matters worse – the quickest way to get carbon territorial emissions down in the UK would be to complete the closure of the steel industry, the remaining oil refineries, the car industry and import all these instead. The UK is already made up of 80% services, importing all the main carbon-intensive goods from countries like China. Climate change is global and what matters is our global carbon footprint. Imports and domestic production both cause climate change, and both do so because they are part of our carbon consumption. When it comes to such consumption, the UK does not look so good. Not to tax carbon at the border whilst having a carbon price at home is precisely wrong. This bit is unanswerable, but then those with a vested interest in the imports argue that such a carbon border adjustment is impractical. No carbon price is perfect, at home or abroad, but it can be roughly right. Imposing a carbon tax at the border on imports from any country without an equivalent carbon tax at home is a great way to spread carbon pricing globally, and a great step in the right direction.