China Carbon Fee May Save 1.7 Million Lives, World Bank Says

Charges on carbon pollution in China could dramatically lower the emissions-intensity of its economy and help avert about 1.7 million deaths by 2030, according to the World Bank.

China, the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, has pledged to peak output by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060, a herculean task by the second-biggest economy and consumer of about half the world’s coal.

The World Bank said in its latest report on the country that pricing carbon “could make a major contribution to emission reductions in the near term, while achieving multiple other social, environmental, and economic objectives.”

Taxing carbon ...