yea the corruption, or corporate interests, is brutal. But I think there's a pretty good consumer interest and investor interest in not wrecking the planet, I think the tax approach works well, tax CO2 and it creates the cost driver to promote greener technology. But then you have a lotta bureaucracy because of corporate interests lobbying to get exemptions and loopholes.
I dont think the tax approach will do much good for the very reasons you listed. Exemptions & loopholes will ensure the rich will profit while the rest of us suffer. Plus, if something truly ground breaking comes around it likely will get bought out and shelved by the big corporations it threatens. We should all have electric or 80mpg cars by now but that would never fly with big oil.
Still I support places like berkely that have both the money and the conscience to support drastic measures setting a high bar that doesn't need to be met, but it does say, hey this is important, we need to move this direction quickly
I agree. Decisions like this are best left to state & local decisions. I have more faith in them actually achieving their goals than if the federal government tried to blanketly force every state to comply. This goes back to the "clean your room" idea. They lead the trend on this and I think many will follow.