将中国的迫在眉睫的碳税使气候有区别吗？

中国将推出一个新的环保税，其中将包括对二氧化碳排放征税，据来自新华社，中国官方新闻机构报告。

新华社的报道是根据中国财政部的网站上发表了一篇文章。文章引述财政部的税收划分策略，甲辰，头部的话说，“政府将收取环保税，而不是排污费，以及征收二氧化碳排放税。”

公司可以通过建立与地方政府的密切关系，逃避中国现行的“排污费”，根据艾拉周，布鲁金斯学会的中国问题专家。新的税额“方式发生了变化，但仍然是一个显著一个”周杰伦写在她的博客，because "conversion of that 'fee' to 'tax' would place legal responsibilities on the companies," making them subject to closer scrutiny from the central government.

中国是目前世界上最大的二氧化碳排放国，据估计,the Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research, having surpassed the United States at some point between 2005 and 2008. The Chinese government has vowed to reduce carbon intensity—the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of economic output—通过与2005年水平相比，到2020年40％至45％。

政府也正在调查征税能源密集型产品，如电池，以及像私人飞机奢侈品的可能性，根据佳。资源税也将在用水量征收。贾并未说明何时将实施新的措施。

The Chinese carbon tax has been in the pipeline for years. In March 2010 Xinhua reported that the Ministry of Finance's Research Institute of Fiscal Science recommended levying a carbon tax and promoting low-carbon awareness campaigns among the general public in an effort to combat global climate change.

当时，该研究所的所长，贾康表示，对燃料的碳含量的环境税“将有助于减少碳排放，消除低效率和技术落后，鼓励清洁能源和低碳产业的发展，促进可持续发展。”

"As a tax directly targeting carbon emissions, a carbon tax is able to markedly strengthen the control of carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption," Jia said.

Bill Barron, who last year ran for the U.S. Senate on a climate change platform, said a carbon tax is the most effective way to encourage industry to curb emissions. "This approach creates a market-based solution," said Barron, who pointed out that a cap and trade system is "more likely to be manipulated by special interests through carbon trading and carbon offsets."

Barron has been a strong proponent of a carbon tax in the United States. "A gradually increasing carbon tax placed at the source (mine, well, or port of entry) with 100 percent of the revenue returned to households would be the most direct and transparent way to address climate change and provide the mechanism to allow our economy to drive a transition to clean energy," he said.

虽然中国的碳税标志着有关应对气候变化国家的严重性，布鲁金斯学会的周老师很快就注意到，碳税将是“微不足道”。财政部已建议在2012年二氧化碳每吨税征收10元（$ 1.60），到2020年，这可能无法提供有意义的激励，为企业减少碳排放量增加至每吨税50元（$ 8）。

Take Huawei Technologies, for example, the Shenzhen-based telecommunications firm that brought in around $35 billion in revenue in 2012 and isseeking to make inroads into the U.S. market。

In 2011, carbon dioxide emissions from the company's research centers and production facilities amounted to a total of 690,065 tons,根据公司。With a carbon tax of $1.60 per ton, that would amount to just over $1.1 million in carbon taxes, or a little over 1 percent of what the company earns in revenue every single day.

Even if the tax were increased to the higher 2020 figure of $8 per ton, Huawei would still only pay a little more than $5.5 million, a paltry figure in comparison to the company's total revenue.

不过，开征碳税将中国，一个国家的环境问题已经收到很多评论, ahead of several other advanced economies.

"In the U.S. or most of the EU other than Norway and Ireland, there is still no carbon tax," Thomas Kerr, the World Economic Forum's head of climate change initiatives, told GreenBiz in an email. "So if the Chinese government were starting small—使用这种极少量的发送信号—and then planned to ratchet up the tax over time, that would be a very important move."

Barron, the senatorial candidate, echoed Kerr's sentiment. "China will play a critical role in whether we are able to limit catastrophic climate change," he said. "Although they are suggesting a modest price on carbon, it is a step in the right direction."

Several details still need to be clarified before the carbon tax will take effect. Hau L. Lee, a professor at Stanford University who specializes in supply chain management, put this concern in stark relief in an email to GreenBiz.

“如果一个公司是一个生产制造商之一富士康这样的，说的话，那就当然是清楚的碳排放量来在制造过程中的工厂，”他写道。但对不太明显的排放量是什么：

Should we include the emissions of the materials used in production? If I buy materials from a neighboring factory, should that factory be responsible for the carbon tax of the materials, or should I be? Would that lead to my sourcing the materials from another country which does not have carbon tax? What about the transportation of the materials, which would also have carbon emission implications? How about the packaging materials used in finishing the products? Also, am I responsible for the carbon emission of the distribution of the product, or would that be charged to someone else? …There still needs to be a lot of clarification.

李明博还表示了公司将如何计算它们的排放水平，谁还会审计和监督企业的排放信息披露的关注。在中国回答了这些问题的方式将在很大程度上决定税收是否会真正鼓励企业减少碳排放量。

"The government will have to do a whole lot more work to be clear on the above issues," said Lee. "Otherwise, it has some PR effect that the Chinese government is doing something, but there would not be much of an impact."

中国国旗的照片by feiyuezhangjie on Shutterstock.