What are carbon taxes?
It's a complicated business but basically the idea is that the person who burns the most carbon pays the most tax. An example might be an electricity generating company which uses coal and produces enormous quantities of carbon dioxide to generate its electricity. The government would tax this company on all this carbon dioxide emission; the more the emission, the more the tax. The company will have to pass on the cost to its customers in the form of higher electricity prices. Otherwise, it will go out of business. The customers won't like this and so will search for companies that generate electricity using noncarbon sources. So the coal burning company either finds non-carbon carbon energy sources for itself or it goes out of business.

Confused about claims and counter-claims about climate change?
FactCheck.org's SciCheck page is a good place to find out what real science is telling us. If you feel you need to find out more about global warming, try some of my links. And watch out: Don't believe all you read or see. Question everything! Not everybody tells the truth including, sadly, some politicians.

Tradable Energy Quotas (TEQs)
Don't be put off if you don't know what TEQs (also called DTQs) are; I didn't either. But they look like they could be a fair way to help slow global warming and energy shortages. So get your head round TEQs here.

The unfair way
If governments around the world are going to stick to the 2015 COP21 Paris Agreement to phase out fossil fuels, they are going to have to slow down the amount of coal, oil and natural gas that is produced by the energy companies. This will mean the price of fossil fuels will rise and rise, forcing people to find alternatives. Rich people won't be much bothered by this because they have plenty of money. But poorer people all round the world will suffer because they won't be able to afford the higher prices.