Polluting Firms Will Be Charged In the US

In an attempt to curb the harmful effects of climate change, the San Francisco Bay Area passed a new rule that will require business organizations to pay a fee on the basis of the amount of carbon dioxide they emit. Under this new rule, big greenhouse gas emitters will have to pay over 50,000 dollars every year, otherwise less than 1 dollar will be charged to most firms. Due to this rule more than 2500 business organizations got affected. While some experts believe that this move will act as an effective model for all states in the US, others are of view that it might pose hindrance in exercising tougher emission targets across California.

This rule has been considered first of its kind in the United States. Voted in by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District of San Francisco, this fee covers nine counties and 2500 small as well as large businesses. Companies measure and report emission levels before they are charged 4.4 cents for each ton of CO2 released by them. Oil refineries and power plants in San Francisco will be the biggest payers as they are the largest emitter of greenhouse gases across the world.

Recently, a fees was attached to greenhouse gas emission by the State of California and by the end of this year, the state will also start charging companies for greenhouse gas emission. The main objective of imposing this fee is to help the state pay for its regulatory expenses that come along with the greenhouse gas reduction goals announced recently. Approximately 400 companies producing, refining, using or distributing coal, natural gas, electricity and oil will be affected by this fee. A plan has been proposed to bring down the rate of emission 25% by the end of 2020. If implemented in a proper manner, this new rule will help the state of California raise over 63 million dollars in the first year. The companies that have been targeted under this new rule represent more than 85% of greenhouse gas emissions in California.

Climate Change Doomsday Vision

Developed as well as under developed countries across the world are imposing regulations on factories, refineries and power plants to cut their greenhouse gas emission. They are being encouraged to make use of technology in order to enhance energy efficiency and reduce the damage being caused by climate change. Environment protection agencies have stated that large power plants are the biggest source of approximately 70% of greenhouse gas emission. Mostly, these plants emit carbon dioxide when fossil fuel is burnt.

Recently, a doomsday vision was showed off by two British cabinet ministers who discussed about rising sea levels and disappearing cities. This vision was a part of the global effort to encourage countries across the world to initiate a new pact and control the emission of gases that cause global warming. These ministers also published an online map to show the impact of rising earth temperature (predicted rise of 4 degree Celsius). This map was created by scientists at the British Meteorological Office in order to show that nations across the world need to realize the dangerous effects of greenhouse gas emission and take immediate measures to curb it.

UK has pledged to bring down the emission of harmful gases like CO2 by approximately 80% by 2050. Even though this is a long term target, developed and under developed countries will have to come on the same platform and address this issue. The need is to strike an agreement so that the rise in temperature can be controlled and we all are protected from ‘the’ doomsday.