http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=InCMR7g4BCKC2wiZPkcVUrJYFxeRblCO&user_id=2676b5777ec170e96b9f3f65bf0546ae&email_type=eta&task_id=1403690269791698®i_id=0
this article and the links within the article create a signicant portrait of the very near term future of what the risks and the associated costs, including human capital, when doing business in the USA. We need to consider deciding today where our children will live in the future. Do you want a beach front house on LI? Where will your labor market come from?
im scared.
Stefanie
While this is a well written article by our friend Henry Paulson, I couldn’t help to laugh with his opening paragraph:
“THERE is a time for weighing evidence and a time for acting. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned throughout my work in finance, government and conservation, it is to act before problems become too big to manage.”
This is the man who sat and watched the bubble burst in everyone’s faces with the mortgage crisis. Now he is lecturing us on the climate “bubble”. I agree with many of his points but maybe should have used a different name while writing this article.
Many articles have been written about climate change and how “doomed” we all are if we don’t make a change; stating the problem over and over again. As per I can recall, I do not remember those same articles giving a potential solution.
This article I found interesting because although stating the known problems of rapid climate change, he offers a possible solution by taxing carbon dioxide emission. For example, Scandinavian countries have imposed emission taxes to airlines when going beyond the allowable limits in the past. Airlines, like SAS, could face not being able to return to its “hub” airport and/or monetary consequences if it did not comply with the allowable carbon dioxide emission laws.
I think it’s a great idea that USA and China should also consider. Other countries have succeed with similar alternative. It is not enough that each household recycles or individuals becoming “organic”, corporations have to also be held accountable for doing as necessary towards a clean environment.
-Naddy
My thoughts on this article center on the point where the author starts talking about collaborating with business people (Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg among them) and the impact they can have on improving the emissions issue.
“Farseeing business leaders are already involved in this issue. It’s time for more to weigh in. To add reliable financial data to the science, I’ve joined with the former mayor of New York City, Michael R. Bloomberg, and the retired hedge fund manager Tom Steyer on an economic analysis of the costs of inaction across key regions and economic sectors. Our goal for the Risky Business project — starting with a new study that will be released this week — is to influence business and investor decision making worldwide.”
What is not discussed enough is that there is no money right now in reducing emissions. Low emissions companies like Tesla are struggling to break into mainstream because there is not enough revenue for this type of initiative. For now.