# Carbon Tax Doesn't Always Lower Emissions

*Published:* 2008-03-28
*Author:* Sheryl Canter

![Sheryl Canter](https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/wp-content/blogs.dir/7/files/2008/02/sheryl_canter.jpg)*This post is by Sheryl Canter, an Online Writer and Editorial Manager at Environmental Defense Fund.*

Here’s the quote of the week, from a [*New York Times* Op-Ed piece](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/opinion/25prasad.html):

> Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have had carbon taxes in place since the 1990s, but the tax has not led to large declines in emissions in most of these countries – in the case of Norway, emissions have actually increased by 43 percent per capita.

This observation reinforces what we’ve been saying all along about why a carbon tax isn’t the right approach. **A tax doesn’t guarantee lower emissions; a cap does**.