text: While a price on GHG emissions would encourage some helpful kinds of innovation, it will not generate other kinds. Coping with climate change will require major breakthroughs in basic science. Such breakthroughs are often elusive, and seeking them is an inherently high-risk venture. The private sector finds it difficult to capture the economic rewards of funding basic science, and placing a price on GHG emissions will not correct this bias. As a result, the private sector usually does not make large, sustained investments in basic science; yet that kind of investment is the key to achieving the breakthroughs needed in climate policy.