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Leveling the Carbon Playing Field

Leveling the Carbon Playing Field

Full Title:  Leveling the Carbon Playing Field
Author(s):  Trevor Houser, Rob Bradley, Britt Childs, Jacob Werksman, Robert Heilmayr
Publisher(s):  World Resources Institute
Publication Date: July 1, 2013
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):

Climate policy, by imposing a cost on greenhouse gas emissions, has the potential to negatively affect carbon-intensive manufacturing industries that compete with foreign producers, either at home or abroad, and for which energy (particularly carbon-intensive) is a significant share of total production costs. In the United States, five industries fit this bill: ferrous metals (iron and steel), nonferrous metals (aluminum and copper), non- metal mineral products (cement and glass), paper and pulp, and basic chemicals. Together these five account for more than half of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the manufacturing sector, though their direct emissions account for less than 6 percent of the US total. Under a domestic cap-and-trade or carbon tax regulatory regime, these industries could see a decline in output and lose market share to foreign competitors if they are unable to reduce emissions and must pass carbon costs on to downstream consumers.

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