A common suggestion is to impose a tax on all CO2 emissions, which would be levied on companies that emit CO2 in production, or that sell products like gasoline that cause CO2 emissions when used. Such a tax would cause electricity companies and industrial firms to adopt techniques that reduce their CO2 emissions, as long as the cost of doing so is less than the tax that they would otherwise have to pay.
如何解决这一难题呢？目前一种普遍的解决方案是对于二氧化碳的排放实施税收管制，也就是说针对那些由于生产环节而产生二氧化碳的企业，或是产品本身（例如汽油）的使用导致二氧化碳排放的企业增加税收。目的是使得电力公司和其他工业企业改进工艺，减少二氧化碳的排放，只要是税金的数额高于工业改造的成本，他们就会选择后者。