Recommendations on Canadian government in response to climate change - Essay Example

Emission of other pollutants leads to environmental degradation and becomes progressively more and more severe, if not checked in time. Unregulated emission and sewage results in global warming; people’s health notwithstanding, it can cause plant and animal extinction also. It is thus incumbent on Canada and other countries to take appropriate action in tackling the various pollutants seriously and urgently. Damages caused by pollution are not likely to have any discernible impact on people’s current lives within ten years, it is being hoped.

One can never be too sure whether the future generation will be able to enjoy the quality of life as people currently do in the next fifty years. In order to reduce the overall environmental damages, Canadian government could issue a set of policies that control firms’ emissions and protect the environment. In most countries, there is a missing market of production externalities which implies that firms’ marginal private cost (MPC) is lower than their marginal social cost (MSC). The difference between MPC and MSC thus becomes a burden to the society which induces social inefficiency and overconsumption (Pettinger, 2013).

A balance therefore needs to be struck by the Government to exercise control over emissions by offsetting against this cost. Canadian government could cease the production of heavily (high carbon) polluting firms. For less polluting firms, Canadian government could set a carbon tax to internalize the externalities. The introduction of carbon tax will shift up the MPC curve to MSC by a tax per unit, forcing the emission generators to pay themselves for their deeds. A carbon tax therefore increases the relative price of carbon-intensive goods though it is very hard to set.

The Government should attempt to phase the tax in, by giving the consumer and manufacturer a buffer zone for self-regulation;