No, it's attempting to put a price on something that's usually externalized and provide a market so private interest can assist with reducing harmful emissions. Has been done several times in several places for different types of emissions. It works, though sometimes simple regulation is more effective, and if not set up with some thought it can be gamed (see: South Coast emission credits; related but not precisely the same: California energy deregulation v 1.0 around 2000, Enron period).