Thursday, December 13, 2007

Norway floats idea of 'carbon auction' to fight global warming

From TerraDaily:

Norway's finance minister on Tuesday proposed a fresh plan to battle climate change by auctioning off permits to emit CO2 and using the profits to help poor nations cope with global warming.

Kristin Halvorsen said that a global cap should be put on how much polluting greenhouses gases can be spewed into the atmosphere to help stabilise these emissions at a safe level.

That amount would then be divided up among the world, with individual countries agreeing to their own share.

A small amount of emissions would be held over and auctioned to rich nations to help them meet their needs, the proceeds of which would help poor countries adapt to climate change, said Halvorsen.

"If you implement a quota system, you can withhold a small portion for auction, and then maybe the UN or some other international organisation gets the revenue from this auctioning, and then finances adaptation for poor countries," Halvorsen told AFP....MORE