Emeritus: David Wilson was an early proponent of the concept of energy-use fees
The concept of a market-based mechanism to curb emissions of greenhouse gases — and thus slow the pace of climate change — has often been suggested in recent decades. But one particular version of such a strategy, devised in the 1970s by MIT professor of mechanical engineering David Gordon Wilson, has been adopted in one form in a Canadian province, as well as in a handful of other places — and, so far, it seems to be having the desired effect.One key to making such a mechanism more palatable politically, says Wilson, now professor emeritus, is to make it a fee rather than a carbon tax. The difference, he explains, is that tax money goes to the government, whereas the fees he envisions would be returned in full to citizens — although not necessarily the same ones who paid it.This combination of a fee levied on the use of fossil...