Environmental Economics

The cromulent economics blog

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Category: Cap-and-Trade

  • “RFF on the Issues: State Options for Implementing the Clean Power Plan”

    Shannon Wulf Tregar: Last week, environmental regulators from 14 states sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency asking for guidance on how to how to implement the carbon emissions reduction goals outlined in the Clean Power Plan. The letter indicates states’ willingness to enact voluntary measures, despite the Supreme Court’s stay order. In recent…

  • “ExxonMobil CEO Relieved It Finally Too Late To Do Anything About Climate Change”

    Good ol' Rex: Saying the multinational oil and gas conglomerate had “really dodged a bullet,” ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson told reporters Wednesday how relieved he was now that it was finally too late to do anything about climate change. The 64-year-old petroleum executive, who acknowledged that throughout his career he had feared the public might…

  • “A Look at Six State Proposals to Tax Carbon”

    Dallas Burtraw: As the political likelihood of passing comprehensive national climate policy has remained low, many states have taken up the mantle. This devolution of climate policy has been further reinforced by the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) efforts to regulate carbon dioxide from existing power plants under the Clean Power Plan, which requires states…

  • What I’m watching right now

    Watch video from yesterday's "Tax or Trade" seminar on #carbonpricing #climatepolicy options https://t.co/uagAa5EN7q pic.twitter.com/3rEOrLyLpd — Resources f/t Future (@RFF_org) March 3, 2016 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  • Teaching environmental policy to MBAs with Veconlab

    App State has become quick to cancel classes with the buses won't run. When that happens we are asked to "winterize" our courses. In other words, we're supposed to keep the students busy while they are enjoying no class time. My go to assignment has been Veconlab's supply and opportunity cost experiment. Here is the abstract…

  • The SCOTUS has opened the door for a carbon tax?

    Shannon Wulf Tregar: The US Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan suffered a setback this week as the Supreme Court blocked the agency from requiring states to submit compliance plans until the program is reviewed by a lower court. Beyond the Clean Power Plan, and given polarized opinions on various regulatory approaches to tackling climate…

  • Was the Acid Rain Program as successful as we thought?

    The February NBER Digest summarizes a July, 2015 NBER working paper that takes another look at the EPA's Sulfur Dioxide Cap and Trade Program (Acid Rain Program) and finds good news and bad news.  The good news, there were significant cost savings from the Acid Rain Program.  Economists Rejoice.  The bad news: the cost savings…

  • Price of California Carbon Allowance Futures over time

    Source: http://calcarbondash.org Hat tip: TM

  • “Proof That a Price on Carbon Works”

    From the New York Times editorial page: Lawmakers who oppose taking action to lower greenhouse gas emissions by putting a price on carbon often argue that doing so would hurt businesses and consumers. But the energy policies adopted by some American states and Canadian provinces demonstrate that those arguments are simply unfounded. Around the world,…

  • My office is always too cold or too hot

    And my thermostat doesn't change the temperature (at least that is the way it seems after the campus began sustainability efforts and began posted about energy savings): Carbon emissions per square foot of building space have declined by 13 percent since 2007 at 343 American colleges and universities, says a report released on Wednesday. But the…