The benefits of a carbon tax

With China, the largest carbon dioxide emitter, announcing that it would balance out its carbon emissions with measures to offset them before 2060, the spotlight is now on the U.S. and India, countries that rank second and third in emissions. One way to cut effluents while earning revenues is to price the carbon content of domestic production and imports, be it energy or transport. With the International Monetary Fund endorsing the European Union’s plan to impose carbon levies on imports, India can be among the first movers in the developing world in taxing and switching from carbon-intensive fuels (like coal), the main sources of climate change.

Record heat waves in Delhi, floods in southwest China, and catastrophic forest fires in California this year are indicative of the existential danger…