Charging for an scarce resource instead of letting the tragedy of the commons play out does sound like something obvious to come out of a neoliberal economist yes.
Update: wow you’re right: https://impact.economist.com/sustainability/net-zero-and-ene...
https://lomborg.com/news/how-avoid-political-pitfalls-carbon...
> The views expressed in the blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Economist Impact or the sponsor.
So not necessarily reflective of The Economist’s position.
Modern 'conservatives' abandoning them tells you a lot about how far their politics have shifted over the past decade.