Climate Politics: Forget the Carrots, Grab the Sticks - Environmental Capital - WSJ

Former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has been among the most vocal in warning about using carbon tariffs, calling the idea “a dangerous path to go down” earlier this year. The fear is that punitive tariffs could make cooperation with China even more difficult, and without such cooperation, “there’s no hope” of combatting climate change, Mr. Paulson says.

Additionally, opening the pandora’s box of trade weapons could boomerang on the U.S., some academics recently warned—other countries would likely retaliate against American tariffs with extra duties of their own, which could whack the very industries the administration is trying to cushion.

Climate Politics II: Will Carbon Permits Be Even Pricier? - Environmental Capital - WSJ

Now, as much as that’s exercised the folks at Planet Gore, the administration already warned that its budget figure was conservative. And it also explicitly said that any additional climate proceeds would be returned to taxpayers. So the issue isn’t what would happen with extra climate revenues.