Days of Reckoning (Why the UK energy cap failed)
The best approach I&#x27;ve heard to solving climate change involves a carbon tax. High gas prices are a proxy for that. It&#x27;s already driving discussions people just weren&#x27;t having before - how can I make my home more energy efficient? What can I do to save energy? In many ways, high energy prices are a positive thing for society (in the long run).<p>The problem is, of course, that high energy prices are a huge negative for those who can&#x27;t afford them. All the proposed carbon tax schemes I&#x27;ve seen are a carbon tax <i>and dividend</i> - you tax carbon, and redistribute the profits to those who can&#x27;t afford the higher prices.<p>Right now, we&#x27;ve got the carbon tax, but the dividend is going into the pockets of oil companies - exactly the people you don&#x27;t want to be building up cash reserves in the fight against climate change.<p>The other issue we have in the UK (and maybe elsewhere) is that the cost of energy is borne by the tenant, but the cost of renovations would be borne by the landlord. This means that landlords have no incentive to improve the energy efficiency of their houses, and tenants have no ability to. We should be changing that - make landlords of energy inefficient houses pay for it.