55 ms·

Oil industries should be required to offset the carbon equivalent they extract.

akho 3y ago
This comment pairs well with this submission: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37660256 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37660256
Dudester230602 3y ago
And the population should be taxed to cover their losses in case pivoting to renewables runs into any issues.
kyrra 3y ago
That's assuming an equal amount of carbon is produced by a given amount of extracted material, regardless of how it is used or processed. That seems an incorrect assumption completely disregards potential processing improvements that would reduce it. This is why you need a true carbon tax if you want to go down this road, as it would make you pay for the actual carbon you produce. Applying this uniformly to all manufacturers around the world, along with users of final products (like gasoline) would be very difficult though.
onlyrealcuzzo 3y ago
Why? >50% of oil is extracted by oil states like KSA and Russia which aren't going to do that. You're just going to become more reliant on oil states. You need to fund realistic alternatives first (which we are doing). Rome wasn't built in a day. But we're moving in the right direction almost as fast as possible. It probably took 10-20 years too long to get started moving in the right direction, but we are - solidly - now.
- cowpig 3y ago
  You can tax imports FYI
  - TheLoafOfBread 3y ago
    You can then watch coup d'état of governments through whole Western world as their population will struggle to feed themselves.
    - collingreen 3y ago
      Taxing imports causes mass famine? That sounds bad! I wonder if there is a level of tariffs and such where the post you replied to could be effective without accidentally making everyone starve and overthrow their government. Do you have any info about the tipping point there?
      - TheLoafOfBread 3y ago
        Taxing fossil fuel imports in agriculture based on fossil fuels will make food expensive and cause riots. No reason to play a dummy.
        mikecoles 3y ago
        They're not playing.
PM_me_your_math 3y ago
[dead]
danaris 3y ago
...Maybe, so long as they're "offsetting" with something that's not the near-total garbage the current "carbon offset" industry is.

akho 3y ago

This comment pairs well with this submission: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37660256 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37660256

Dudester230602 3y ago

And the population should be taxed to cover their losses in case pivoting to renewables runs into any issues.

kyrra 3y ago

That's assuming an equal amount of carbon is produced by a given amount of extracted material, regardless of how it is used or processed. That seems an incorrect assumption completely disregards potential processing improvements that would reduce it. This is why you need a true carbon tax if you want to go down this road, as it would make you pay for the actual carbon you produce. Applying this uniformly to all manufacturers around the world, along with users of final products (like gasoline) would be very difficult though.

onlyrealcuzzo 3y ago

Why? >50% of oil is extracted by oil states like KSA and Russia which aren't going to do that. You're just going to become more reliant on oil states. You need to fund realistic alternatives first (which we are doing). Rome wasn't built in a day. But we're moving in the right direction almost as fast as possible. It probably took 10-20 years too long to get started moving in the right direction, but we are - solidly - now.

cowpig 3y ago
You can tax imports FYI
- TheLoafOfBread 3y ago
  You can then watch coup d'état of governments through whole Western world as their population will struggle to feed themselves.
  - collingreen 3y ago
    Taxing imports causes mass famine? That sounds bad! I wonder if there is a level of tariffs and such where the post you replied to could be effective without accidentally making everyone starve and overthrow their government. Do you have any info about the tipping point there?
    - TheLoafOfBread 3y ago
      Taxing fossil fuel imports in agriculture based on fossil fuels will make food expensive and cause riots. No reason to play a dummy.
      - mikecoles 3y ago
        They're not playing.

PM_me_your_math 3y ago

[dead]

danaris 3y ago

...Maybe, so long as they're "offsetting" with something that's not the near-total garbage the current "carbon offset" industry is.