Thos facilities that come in under that allowable limit because of air pollution control systems can then sell their leftover allowances to other facilities and organizations on the open market. This allows the facilities that buy up such allowances or pollution credits to pollute more, because other facilities are polluting less. This type of system has some potentially good points, by rewarding facilities that control air pollution and providing a means for those who cannot afford the latest air pollution technologies or who have not completed upgrades to buy some maneuvering room until they can get that done (What is Cap and Trade, n.d.).
A cap-and-trade strategy provides an incentive for all segments of the economy to compete to discover the best ways to cut emissions. In this type of system the government plays a small role, and leaves the main decisions to the private sector. The government would establish an overall emissions cap and assign specific emission allocations to the different sources of CO2. It would not tell industries and companies what to do or how to meet their allocations. Each company would be free to make those choices. It will either work to reduce its own emissions or pay someone else to lower them. Businesses can often profit by coming in below their cap and selling their extra carbon credits to other who need them. Even farmers can profit by enhancing carbon storage in soils and trees and selling the extra carbon credits (Roberts, 2007).
The advantages of cap-and-trade are considerable. In contrast to a tax, it encourages innovation by creating incentives...
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