Abstract
Traditional economic thinking, in pursuit of economic growth, has lead to the wanton exploitation of the environment. In the absence of sustainable development, there seems to be an inverse relationship between economic growth and environmental quality. Environment is a normal good - that is, it has positive income elasticity. Therefore, as per capita income increases, the people may also demand better environmental quality, that is reduced carbon dioxide emission. Therefore society has to find ways and means to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, to prevent global warming when considering inter-generational equity with respect to sustainable environmental quality. The paper deals with the various policy instruments that are available to minimize the emission of carbon dioxide, taking into consideration that the policy instruments should satisfy the following objectives: Should be cost effective; Should be acceptable to industry as well as the government; Should achieve the desired level of carbon dioxide emission; Should keep the administrative cost as low as possible; Should be flexible to changing condition. Based on these criteria the author is of the view that in the long-run, it may be possible to achieve international carbon dioxide emission tradable permit system.