In Australia, we had a Carbon Tax... that was quickly repealed by a change of government... for some reason, people are just too easily bribed by the appeal of a few extra dollars per week vs the far off effects of that bribery.
I am hopeful that we soon won't need to price pollution into the price of energy, as the newer technologies are really starting to hit price parity or in some cases better than the old dirty power generation technologies. Also, the decentralisation of the power production is leading to less demand for the centralised power stations. In fact, in Australia, we are seeing the demise of coal stations as the owners refuse to keep them running, citing economic unprofitability... leading to members of the free-market centre-right seriously suggesting that the government should construct and own a coal-fired power plant!
However, the timing this economic "flippening" of the newer vs older technologies occurs is not necessarily one that takes the accelerated evolution of the climate into account....