carbon tax

carbon tax (plural carbon taxes)

1. A tax levied on the carbon contents used by the burning fossil fuels, so as to discourage the production of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
   • 1995 November 1, S. Fred Singer, “Ozone Politics with a Nobel Imprimatur”, in Washington Times:

     Swedish politicians push for imposition of a punitive carbon tax to turn back a global climate warming that has not even been detected, even as a major political party vows to close down Sweden's nuclear power plants.