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I wonder what the structure of the grey energy is, the 4.7 tonnes of CO2. How much of that energy embodied in Swiss imports comes from coal power stations in China? One of the main drivers for China building all those power stations is counties like Switzerland buying Chinese manufactured goods. Swiss electricity has a far lower carbon content than Chinese energy - maybe a smart move, from a carbon point of view, is to bring back energy intensive manufacturing from China to Switzerland. This could be achieved with carbon based import tariffs.
Chris,
Putting up tariff barriers reduces the wealth of the people. There are numerous comparative advantages that china has wrt manufacturing, not only cheap energy. Your proposal would cut that off, impovering both the chinese and the swiss. That's not what we want. It would be easier just to clean up these polluting plants.
Investing in chinese clean powerplants is not easy. Politically it will be very difficult to sell to the public, especially when it becomes clear (in a decade or so) that we have not only a GHG problem, but also a very real energy crisis.
Chris,
I agree that accounting for imports as carbon emissions is important. I think that individual countries can do this using a carbon tax or individual carbon rationing. I would think that it would be best to apply these to both domestic and foreign products without distinction. Longer transits for goods will lead to some preference for domestic products, but a bit of innovation in shipping put the onus on the exporting country to do better or become less competitive. Thus, innovation is encouraged both within and without.
Chris