If you really want to solve climate change, you’d do something that would really addresses the challenges head on. How would you do that?
If you brought on stream the solution(s) you’d pay No tax (not a penny/cent ) on the income from the invention for the next 10 years.
Set a target and let the market flourish
You would agree in advance some basic criteria: energy production at a certain suitably large volume with a certain amount of no or low emissions; a certain price; 300K cars a year on the road with no emissions lead to no tax on the income from the sales.
I don’t really care too much what the targets are.
Set a target and I know human brilliance will flourish. Energy production via photsthesis by Panasoninc, Hyrogen fuel cell cars by Honda, all will rapidly improve and come to market as the rush to reap the benefit of their minds brilliance at 0% tax for 10 years kicks in.
We Do It
We have used tax as an instrument for a long time. It works very well.
Prizes were used for a long time to encourage invention. It worked very well. As tax on all firms of income tax has grown there has been a strange but unmistakable decline in innovation. Taxation kills of the spirit of innovation very well.
No Doubt It Will Be Stopped
I have no doubt that this idea will take off. Governments tax revenues will collapse as cheap and clean energy comes on stream in large amounts all year round.
Academia and research centres will block it. There will be no need for billions of euros in subsidies for ideas that will never be needed. The market will step up instead.
I am sure there are whole variety of arguments from incumbents, bureaucrats, greens who’d have to find a new job and socialists (who think other peoples money is everyone elses).
They will block these idea and the amazing solutions that go with it.
One Simple Step
But, if you want to solve great challenges there is one very simple action that would bring about the solution , very quickly.