Carbon tax + per head tax credit. Big consumers (the rich) end up paying, small consumers (the poor) end up with cash in their pocket, the government has no extra revenue that could lead to perverse incentives.
It has to be expensive enough to depress consumption and/or promote more efficient use. Countries where oil is expensive have better fuel efficiency, for example.
I'm in New Zealand, and plenty of us have serious gas guzzlers even though petrol is far more expensive than in the US. A bunch of Scandinavian countries are twice as expensive as the US.
