The Split over Carbon Pricing

Opinions, Policy

May 20, 2021

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by Matthew Choi (Politico’s Morning Energy) TAKING CARBON PRICING TO THE NEXT (FEDERAL) LEVEL:Carbon pricing has its backers in environmental circles, the fossil fuel industry and in state houses around the country. But lawmakers in Washington just can’t seem to get into it.

Many Republican lawmakers still shun efforts to implement a carbon tax or cap and trade system, and a growing share on the left are denouncing any such moves as false starts on curbing emissions. President Joe Biden has also stopped short of calling for a carbon pricing scheme in his push to reduce emissions, though aides say he’s open to the idea.

Some Democrats are also haunted by the ghosts of the last push for carbon pricing a decade ago — a legislative movement that stalled and many blamed for Democrats’ “shellacking” in the 2010 midterms.

But the states that have implemented a carbon pricing scheme could offer insights into how it could be taken to the next (federal) level. The Northeast’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative grew to 11 member states last year with the addition of Virginia and appears to be helping cut down emissions in the area. States with carbon pricing schemes have also seen their coffers swell with money to finance clean energy projects. READ MORE

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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Accelerating Decarbonization of the U.S. Energy System. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.17226/25932

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