We do need a global commitment to reduce greenhouse gases, but a global cap-and-trade scheme would be counter-productive. Here's just one problem with cap-and-trade: much money would flow from rich and polluting nations to the poorest nations, allowing rich nations to keep polluting, while people in poor places would spend more on things like cars and meat, only to cause further pollution.
President Obama, please read this!
The energy and environmental policy that you have proposed for the U.S. is a patchwork of policies, ranging from higher fuel efficiency standards and subsidies for energy conservation and renewable energy, to "an economy-wide cap-and-trade program".
The problem is that the cap-and-trade program is not what it claims to be: it claims that it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050. However, a cap-and-trade program would not only be ineffective in reducing greenhouse gases, it would actually be counter-productive and lead to further pollution and environmental harm. Moreover, a cap-and-trade program would come at the detriment of other policies, the very policies that we need to implement, in order to reduce greenhouse gases.
