A Resilient Future for Coastal Communities: Federal Policy Recommendations from Solutions in Practice

Across the United States, coastal communities face increased uncertainty and risks from intensifying coastal erosion, flooding, sea level rise, and other climate change impacts. These threats need to be taken very seriously. Nearly 100 million Americans live in coastal counties making up about 30 percent of the U.S. population; another 30 million people (9 percent) live in the Great Lakes region.

Through creative partnerships, innovative program design, and intentional community engagement, practitioners and researchers around the country are carrying out new work to adapt to the rapidly changing coastal environment. These efforts would be enhanced and more successful with increased …

Framework Proposal for a US Upstream GHG Tax with WTO-Compliant Border Adjustments: 2020 Update

The original Framework (2018) described how to design BTAs in the context of a US upstream GHG tax. Rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) allow nations to rebate value-added taxes (VATs) on exported products and impose them on imports. For that reason the Framework explicitly defined the GHG-index (GGI) in close analogy with VATs as its basis for BTAs. GGI tracks taxed sources of GHG emissions along supply and manufacturing chains to produce GHG-intensive products. BTAs for products are determined by their GGI multiplied by the US GHG tax. Justification for WTO-compatibility relies on Articles II and III of …

Policy Guidance for US GHG Tax Legislation and Regulation: Border Tax Adjustments for Products of Energy-Intensive, Trade-Exposed and Other Industries

An increasing number of US senators and representatives are proposing legislation to address climate change based on a greenhouse gas (GHG) tax or “pollution fee.” Such proposals would create significant economic impacts on fossil fuel producers and energy-intensive industries that rely on them, especially those proposals that call for large tax increases over time to achieve the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement. Resulting cost increases for US industries with significant GHG emissions—typically referred to as energy-intensive, trade-exposed (EITE) industries—could cause some production to shift to countries without comparable carbon pricing policies, resulting in “leakage” of GHG emissions that the …

An Action Plan for Carbon Capture and Storage in California: Opportunities, Challenges, and Solutions

“An Action Plan for Carbon Capture and Storage in California: Opportunities, Challenges, and Solutions” provides policymakers with options for near-term actions to deploy carbon capture and storage (CCS) to meet California’s climate goals.…

How a Green Bank Can Drive the North Carolina Clean Energy Economy: A Market Opportunity Overview

This report provides an analysis of clean energy finance opportunities that will accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy in North Carolina. Green Banks have been proven as an effective engine for job creation by leveraging public resources to catalyze private investment, which is particularly relevant in this time of high unemployment. These institutions have helped states make progress on renewable portfolio standards and other greenhouse gas emission goals. Green bank financing can also assist municipal, industrial, commercial, and agricultural facilities transition to cleaner energy resources and lower operational costs. A North Carolina Green Bank (or Clean Energy Fund) …

The Energy Efficiency Gap and Energy Price Responsiveness in Food Processing

To better understand this, EIA commissioned Leidos, Inc., to prepare the following report The Energy Efficiency Gap and Energy Price Responsiveness in Food Processing. The report provides an analysis of this efficiency gap, as well as elasticities calculated in the stochastic frontier energy demand estimation process, which allow EIA to estimate how much of an efficiency improvement may be available in the food processing industry. In simulating efficiency improvements (by setting the target level of efficiency based on a percentile of the cumulative efficiency distribution), the estimate of potential reduction in energy use is by definition smaller but empirically more …

Time-Varying Rates in New England: Opportunities for Reform

​Although some New England utilities offer modernized rates for special applications, like electric vehicles and battery storage, there is substantial room for improvement in time-varying residential pricing. This policy brief, the last in a series examining rate design issues across New England, looks more closely at time-varying rates offered by utilities in the region. It discusses how such rates could be updated to be consistent with ratemaking principles and increase the benefits to both consumers and utilities, and offers examples from both inside and outside New England of utilities deploying more well-designed time-varying rates.…

Expanding the Reach of a Carbon Tax: Emissions Impacts of Pricing Combined with Additional Climate Actions

Putting a price on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions can help governments reduce them rapidly and in a cost-effective manner. While 10 carbon tax bills have been proposed in the 116th US Congress, carbon prices alone are not enough to reach net-zero emissions by midcentury. Additional policies are needed to complement an economy-wide carbon tax and further cut CO2 from the US energy system.

This study aims to provide a better understanding of such policy combinations. It projects the energy CO2 emissions impacts of two carbon taxes, starting in 2021, that span the rates in the carbon tax bills in Congress. …

Climate Insights 2020: Electric Vehicles

According to some natural scientists and economists, one potential step to reduce emissions and mitigate climate change would be the widespread adoption of all-electric vehicles (EVs), which can be powered by electricity generated by sunlight, wind, and water. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (see below), transportation emits more greenhouse gases than any other sector in the US, attributable to transportation’s near-complete dependence on fossil fuels. Thus, emissions can be dramatically reduced by widespread adoption of EVs. Perhaps partly for this reason, manufacturing and sales of EVs have been increasing in recent years. Still, thus far, such sales represent …

Carbon Markets in Agriculture: A Market-Based Conservation Solution

Voluntary carbon markets allow farmers and foresters to get paid for using climate-friendly practices while helping companies reduce their carbon footprint. Given these positive outcomes, it’s no surprise voluntary carbon markets have received increasing support from policymakers on both sides of the aisle.

In a new policy study, R Street Director of Government Affairs, Caroline Kitchens, delves into the benefits and challenges of implementing voluntary carbon markets. With voluntary carbon markets increasing in popularity in both the private sector and Capitol Hill, bills such as Growing Solutions Act are gaining traction.…