WEBINAR REVIEW: The Future of Carbon Pricing: 2020 and Beyond

by Sharon Ji* (Advanced Biofuels USA) This online conference focused on the updated models set-up on carbon pricing calculations. As for the many factors involved, the main issues considered were the production cost, marketing and sales cost, carbon tax cost, new technology impacts and environmental effects.

Adel Morris of the Brookings Institution suggested legal, policy, regulatory and standards considerations to guide the carbon energy industry in an environmentally friendly way, even though this is not economically ideal. She expressed a preference for new process technology to decrease emissions.

Joseph Majkut of the Niskanen Center wanted to prioritize low cost, energy efficiency and low carbon pricing. He suggested economic recovery, budget saving and maintaining certainty for market revenue. In the future, hopefully, carbon will be a part of clean energy after process technology improvements. He supports the California Carbon Tree Program.

Nathaniel Keohane of the Environmental Defense Fund emphasized the political challenges, such as strategies, economic competitiveness, environmental justice, regulation and smart carbon industry stimulation.

He pointed out the political, federal and international factors; that it is economically wise to approach allies to continue their support for US Clean Carbon Emission Standards. He said that the Democratic Party cares more about carbon pricing and CO2 emissions; however, the Republic Party does not have improving the carbon price on its agenda and have created few new emission policy updates during the Trump Administration.

Keohane prefers to target attention on equity, justice and jobs and would like to see less reliance on oil and gas resources. Also, the US should help allies to transfer to clean energy economically.

Marc Hafstead of Resources for the Future and the moderator of the event introduced his data tool, a Carbon Pricing Calculator, and discussed efforts to improve the pricing models by considering more on the traceable tools, test code, federal rules, policy measurement, R&D investigate factors, national and international level security and long term program maintenance.

All in all, the future strategies will be moving forward to the new technology development, lowering the carbon pricing, and decreasing CO2 emissions. WATCH WEBINAR

*Sharon Ji is a chemical analyst with an interest in helping people understand varieties of ways to mitigate climate change.

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) told an event hosted by Yale University he's in the "finishing stages" of negotiating carbon fee legislation he predicted would be supported by "three, four or five Republican senators" next year. "I think we're moving toward a place where a carbon fee is supported by industry, by advocates and by Republicans," Coons said. "That's the most likely big lever to move ahead."

Coons acknowledged the urgency of aggressively tackling the problem, though he was wary of pushing the limits of executive action in light of a conservative-led Supreme Court. "If by urgently doing something now you provoke a successful counter-response that eliminates everything you did with executive action and successfully elects a conservative majority that is opposed to climate action, you frankly have done net harm," Coons said. "It is maddening, and I am choking on the level of frustration I have in the Senate at how long it is taking for us to make real progress on this issue."

The Delaware Democrat said the lone obstacle to advancing bipartisan energy legislation, S. 2657 (116), is Sen. Rand Paul, but predicted the bill would move next Congress if it didn't this year. "The only thing holding it up at this point is one recalcitrant and difficult senator from Kentucky," he said. "If it doesn't get done in the lame duck of this Congress, I think almost exactly that package will get picked up reintroduced and moved early in the next. It is strongly bipartisan and it has taken years to put it together." READ MORE