In the first major study of its kind, researchers from several European institutions analyzed 1,500 climate policies implemented across 41 countries since the turn of the century. Only 63 were found to be effective.
That means 1,437 policies (95.8%) were futile and failed. A meager 4.2% success rate would put most companies or organizations out of business or get someone fired. Such low rates of return are troublesome, but somehow, governments can get away with it.
Among the few strategies considered successful are “price-based instruments”—carbon pricing, energy taxes, vehicle taxes, etc. Yet, the successful interventions only yielded total emission reductions between 0.6 billion and 1.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. If the United Nations desires to cut the 40 billion tons of carbon emitted into the atmosphere each year by nearly half, the last two decades of climate policies have hardly made a dent.
Meanwhile, the majority of sweeping laws and regulations (the most popular being subsidies) enacted in the name of climate change have been inconsequential. Instead, they are inflicting harm, and consumers are paying the price.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a climate bill loaded with green energy handouts, is projected to cost American taxpayers at least $1.2 trillion over the next decade; some estimates put it closer to $2 or $3 trillion. The ballooning federal debt is already breaking the backs of middle- and lower-class Americans.
Read the full article here.
Kristen Walker is a policy analyst for the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization. For more information about the Institute, visit www.theamericanconsumer.org or follow us on Twitter @ConsumerPal.