"Carbon pricing is the silver bullet to solve climate change"

“This is the issue of our times. Climate change is the biggest issue.” The filmmaker, Kaia Rose, stresses the importance of discussing this global matter on a Connect4Climate Facebook Live Q&A on Thursday, May 11th, with Eric Mann. They were both responsible for the production of “Climate Countdown: Price on Carbon”, Film4Climate Global Video Competition’s short-film winner of the Put A Price On Carbon Pollution Award.

Kaia Rose and Eric Mann’s film explores a climate solution that despite its “complexity”, “brings everyone to the table”. “We need all the solutions, but if you put a price on carbon then you will be addressing the very reason why we are having this crisis. Fossil fuels are cheap, but they have a cost. Health care costs. The cost of storm damages. The cost of water. Ecological cost. All sort of costs. And we are paying for those costs”, explains Kaia Rose.

Mann adds: “It is the silver bullet to solve climate change. It is a simple, effective solution”. According to World Bank data, currently, around 40 countries and more than 20 cities already have in place carbon pricing mechanisms (emissions trading systems (ETS) and carbon taxes), covering about half of their emissions – 13 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions.

“Carbon pricing is an egoless way of solving climate change. It forces the market to move in a certain direction”, attests the filmmaker Eric Mann. From Rose’s point of view putting a price on carbon “corrects a market failure”. “It shifts the whole system we’ve been living under. It’s about justice. It’s a new world we want to create”, she underlines. 

What is stopping this solution from being implemented?

Kaia Rose has a firm and prompt answer: “The money is there. The technology is there. Political will is not there”. According to both film directors, in order to solve this problem, it is essential to put pressure on the politicians and put the subject of carbon pricing on the “vernacular”. “Communicating is essential. Keep making it a sexy subject”, Eric Mann advises.

Stressing the importance of also investing in carbon-neutral innovation, the authors of the Climate Countdown series remind the online audience of the necessity to invest in innovative solutions in all sectors to tackle climate change. “A price on carbon is not a one-size fit all solution”, says Mann.

“I think young people should own this solution”

However, solving climate change takes everyone’s efforts.  Rose and Mann are certain that each citizen would be able to use their skills fighting this international question. “You are never too old or too young to be part of this process”, Eric Mann declares. On the other side, Kaia Rose trusts the young people’s will “because they are not constrained into a box. They have a fresh perspective”.

The results of recent atmospheric research make climate change an urgent subject, determines Rose, aware that “there is a lot of momentum from the Paris Agreement, and that’s exciting, but we need to increase it. We need to act now and we need to boost our efforts”. “It’s such an existential crisis that it is easy to feel overwhelmed. But there is a lot to be hopeful for. There are a lot of great solutions out there”, the filmmaker emphasizes.

Eric Mann and Kaia Rose are at present working on the Climate Countdown Season Two, that will be focusing on climate finance and on how to communicate climate change.