最近，抗议者在纽约市周围举行了大规模示威活动United Nations Climate Summit 2014. The goal of the summit was to mobilize the international community in preparation for next year's climate meeting in Paris, and protestors wanted to show their support for strong action to reverse climate change.

Meanwhile, many in the business community — who tend not to rally in the streets — are coalescing around a program to price carbon put forward by of all players, the World Bank.

Pricing carbon may be legislation非grat在国会中，但世界其他大部分地区都采取了不同的态度。根据World Bank's Pricing Carbon program, close to 40 nations and more than 20 sub-national jurisdictions have implemented or are preparing to implement a price on carbon or an emissions trading program. That includes places such asBoulder, Colorado, where voters renewed their city's carbon tax in 2012.

最好的，hundreds of businesses, including energy giants such as GDF Suez and groups like the American Sustainable Business Council, have joined on to the世界银行的声明in support of a price on carbon. Many more have included a"shadow price"[PDF]关于碳在投资决策中，实际上表明他们了解气候变化将来会影响他们的运作，而​​不管政府做什么（或不做什么）。

What does all of this mean? It means that, despite the hysterical claims that pricing carbon would be devastating to the business community, more and more companies have seen the writing on the wall: Climate change is real, and a price on carbon is one of the best ways to stop it.

创意碳定价

For one, a price on carbon would be the simplest way to cut carbon emissions. For all the good the Environmental Protection Agency'sproposed rules on power plantswill do, states will have a lot of work to figure out how they'll comply, and their plans will not all be the same. That would not be the case with a price on carbon: for each ton of carbon, a fee gets paid. Simple as that.

And it is powered by a fundamental economic principle: Adding costs to something means people use it less.

Take smoking. After the federal cigarette tax jumped 62 cents a pack in 2009, the number of smokers dropped by三百万三年. The same principle would apply to carbon.

What of the economic arguments against pricing carbon? As is often the case, theories abound. But the evidence suggests that fears are overblown, especially if it is combined with other intelligent economic policies.

例如，加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省elected to cut other taxeswhen they levied a price on carbon in 2008. As a result, fuel use plummeted, and its GDP grew faster than the rest of the country's.

As is often the case, the devil is in the details. We could follow British Columbia and cut other taxes, particularly making use of options toavoid burdening already-vulnerable Americans，例如增加所得税抵免额或抵消营业税。另一种选择是将资金用于基础设施，清洁能源或其他优先事项的投资。对于创造就业机会，这可能会做得很大，这仍然固执地缓慢。将资金投资于研发上的一个想法甚至可以是popular among Republicans.

The bottom line is that there are so many variables that can be brought into this discussion. Just saying we need to price carbon is only the first step; figuring out the details, including the actual price and where the money would go, is the important part — and that's a discussion we will continue to have.

Nevertheless, we know pricing carbon can actually provide an economic boost, depending on how it's implemented. And that's before taking into account all of the dangers climate change poses to the economy — such as rising health care and energy costs, infrastructure damage and coastal flooding — that a price on carbon could help alleviate.

如果纽约的事件显示出任何事情，那么很多人之间有一个巨大的愿望，可以看到对气候变化的行动。如果不列颠哥伦比亚省的过去几年证明了一切，那就是这种行动对经济有利，而不仅仅是地球。

现在是时候了business owners to get engaged: Sign theWorld Bank statement,submit a comment in supportof the EPA's carbon rules and join the联合国定价碳计划的业务领导.

And that's just the start. The toughest opposition to addressing climate change stems from the fear that we can't afford it, that it will be bad for business. The best people to prove that wrong are business owners.

Top image of smokestacks burning money bymilo827通过shutterstock。