Setting a price for carbon for implementing a carbon tax or a cap and trade system for controlling carbon dioxide emissions

Carbon tax and cap and trade are two main policy tools for market-based mechanisms aimed at curbing carbon dioxide emissions. But, their implementation requires a careful calibration of the price of carbon, on which a carbon tax is levied, or which helps price carbon credits in an emissions trading system. Hence, setting a price on carbon, tuned to the fundamentals of the local economy, is a profound question in environmental economics, important for benchmarking the price of many goods and services dependent on fossil fuel energy for material input or function. One approach to setting a price on carbon is to progressively increase the price of carbon through regulatory statute from an initial low price. This would help industries and the economy to gradually adapt to a marketplace where there is an additional regulatory price on carbon in addition to a material and services price. On the other hand, a one-off approach at setting the final price of carbon in the economy may deliver a severe demand and supply shock, which may have repercussions beyond businesses needing to factor the price of carbon in their economic calculus. Thus, whether a progressive price increase in carbon or setting the final price, pricing carbon is a delicate economic issue with significant implications for the functioning of an economy choosing either the carbon tax or cap and trade system for regulating carbon dioxide emissions.