Sadly we’ve another piece bemoaning the fact that carbon credits, under the European Union’s cap and trade plan, are low. The point that low prices are a sign of the success of the plan, not a failure of it, seems to have escaped the people advancing this argument.

The piece is here at Der Spiegel.

“Emissions trading, the European Union hoped, would limit the release of harmful greenhouse gases. But it isn’t working. The price for emissions certificates has plunged, a development that is actually making coal more attractive than renewable energy.”

This is an unfortunate but not uncommon problem: people failing to distinguish the effects of price under a carbon tax plan and a cap and trade plan.

via Low Carbon Credit Prices Are a Sign of Success, Not Failure – Forbes.