http://business.financialpost.com/
Canada contributes just 1.65 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with only a tiny portion of that coming from Ontario. [Ontario contributes less than half a per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. – RepublicOfMining.com] The buying and selling of carbon credits will make no real difference. In fact, shutting down the entire Ontario economy would make no measurable difference to global climate change.
For a time, it was fashionable to buy a star in the sky and name it after a love interest, a new baby or a recently deceased loved one. Could anything be more romantic or more sentimental?
It turns out that the companies that take money from consumers for “naming stars” are the only ones who actually recognize the name. The practice is considered by many to be a kind of scam that profits off of the idealism of consumers. Money for a star name is just money for nothing.
It’s a lesson that Ontario politicians should listen to. Like buying a star, Ontarians will be buying “carbon credits” starting January 1st — financial products conjured up out of thin air by the government. The unfortunate difference is that unlike a star name, Ontarians are being forced to buy them.
The Ontario government’s cap and trade scheme will limit the emissions Ontario companies can produce, and they must purchase “carbon credits” to pay for any emissions above their government-assigned limit. These “carbon credits” are financial products that are traded like other useful things on a government-created “carbon market.”
But unlike other commodities such as pork bellies, corn or west Texas crude oil, carbon credits do not actually exist. You cannot touch them. There is no underlying tangible asset. The value of the carbon credit comes from a fictional demand that the government created by forcing businesses to buy them.
For the rest of this article, click here: http://business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/christine-van-geyn-ontarians-will-be-forced-to-pay-for-imaginary-credits-just-so-the-government-can-feel-good