does cap and trade really work 
the effectiveness of cap and trade is constantly under debate cap and trade aims to reduce carbon emissions by putting a price on them thus mitigating climate change those well designed cap and trade initiatives have proven to be not only environmentally effective but also cost effective since those companies that bank the excess allowances or amount of the cap can reduce significantly their costs in california for example the program met some initial benchmarks and inspired many other similar initiatives across the world but some claim that the biggest oil and gas companies in the state have actually polluted more since the program started experts are increasingly worried that the cap and trade initiative is in reality allowing california s biggest polluters to conduct business as usual and even increase their emissions an analysis conducted by propublica showed that carbon emissions from california s oil and gas industry actually rose 3 5 since cap and trade began and that emissions from vehicles which burn the fuels processed in refineries are also rising 4carbon tax vs cap and tradea carbon tax directly establishes a price on greenhouse gas emissions so companies are charged a dollar amount for every ton of emissions they produce whereas a cap and trade program issues a set number of emissions allowances each year these allowances can be auctioned to the highest bidder as well as traded on secondary markets creating a carbon price if well designed either a carbon tax or a cap and trade program can be key elements for the u s in its effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 5