In 2010, George Osborne announced his intention to impose, from April 2013, a “carbon floor price” of £16 on every tonne of CO2 emitted by British industry, rising to £30 a tonne by 2020 and £70 a tonne by 2030.
They\’ve managed to get confused between a cap and trade system and a carbon tax.
Under a carbon tax it is the tax itself that provides the incentive to reduce emissions. Thus a higher price does indeed tend to reduce emissions and can arguably be a good thing.
Under cap and trade it is the limit on the number of emissions permits that provides the quantity limitation. The price of such permits is not the incentive: it is rather telling us how expensive it is to meet that target.
You really do have to be morons of the highest grade to get confused between the two. A low permit price is just absolutely wonderful. For it shows that the cost of meeting the emissions targets is very low. Hurrah!
Then the idiots decide that solving a problem at low cost is a bad idea. We must raise that cost because, well, because what, other than that they are fools?