carbon tax
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Thumb on the scale in the comparison of fuel taxes and efficiency standards?
A new review of the literature by Resources for the Future suggests that gas taxes motivate drivers to use less gasoline far more cheaply than auto efficiency standards like CAFE. There are a number of reasons to be suspicious of this conclusion.
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Carbon tax in the U.K.: What does it mean for U.S. debate?
The U.K. may have just implemented a carbon tax. "Whuuut?" you're asking. Seriously. And it's kind of a funny story.
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Let a thousand carbon taxes bloom!
Are you frustrated by the inaction in Washington, D.C. on the deepening climate crisis? Are you trying to figure out what more you could do, in addition to what you’re already doing, to advance a much-needed clean energy revolution in the USA? Here’s an answer: work to enact a local tax on carbon polluters in […]
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Is cap-and-trade to blame for the death of the climate bill?
Pundits say cap-and-trade is the reason for the green movement's lack of success and that a different policy is key to moving forward. I don't buy it.
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The real options for U.S. climate policy
The time has not yet come to throw in the towel regarding the possible enactment in 2010 of meaningful economy-wide climate change policy (such as that found in the Waxman-Markey legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in June, 2009, or the more recent Kerry-Lieberman proposal in the Senate). Meaningful action of some kind […]
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A messy but practical strategy for phasing out the U.S. coal fleet
By 2030, we have to stop emitting greenhouse gases from coal. That conclusion is most famously associated with NASA’s climate chief James Hansen, but Hansen is not alone. In a recent paper, nine other climate scientists — David Beerling, Robert Berner, Pushker Kharecha, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Mark Paganini, Maureen Raymo, Dana Royer, Makiko Sato, and James […]
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Why not structure climate bills to win popular support?
Mainstream environmentalists tackling the climate crisis prioritize pricing greenhouse gas emissions over alternative policies to cool our fevered planet. The ACES climate bill that passed the House would weaken renewable rules, add massive offsets, and kill much existing EPA authority to fight climate change. The “simple” Cantwell-Collins cap-and-dividend bill focuses on an auctioned permit system […]
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Gore’s climate remedy must match diagnosis
Al Gore’s eminence in the global climate movement is on impressive display in his full-throated defense of climate science in Sunday’s New York Times. His essay, “We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change,” is triple the paper’s standard length for op-eds. Only Gore could command such a bully pulpit, and probably no one else could so […]
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Climate Policy Lessons From France
I loved French President Sarkozy’s carbon tax proposal, so it was disheartening to see it get mauled by lawmakers: “We will not touch households, hauliers or fishermen,” Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo told reporters. Industries such as metals and refineries, seen as major polluters, were spared under the earlier tax plan… Borloo announced plans to launch […]