Incentives for sustainable action take several forms:
| Incentive | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|
| Personal satisfaction or sense of responsibility | Only a small minority will take serious action. (Many us are well-intentioned but don't get far beyond good intentions.) | |
| Social pressure/conformity | No cost | |
| Regulation | Possibility of corruption? Depends on an authority to make decisions - likely to be less creative than a more open approach. | |
| Taxes | Revenue | Difficulty and controversy involved in setting level of taxes; difficult for authority to raise taxes to the appropriate level due to political and electoral pressure. |
| Markets (e.g. carbon trading) | Potential disadvantage: If allocations are given to existing emitters, that effectively rewards polluters. | Strong motivation of personal gain; efficient allocation of resources. |
Note that increased awarness and access to information can help people to make better choices - these are not incentives in themselves, but can make the incentives more effective.
See also
External links
- Wikipedia:Carbon tax
- Wikipedia:Carbon trading
- Natural Capitalism - website of the book about making sustainability profitable.