Tag Archives: Carbon tax

Last of An Endangered Species Spotted on Capitol Hill: A Practical Senator

Bloomberg Environment (subscription required) is reporting this morning that Senator Chris Coons is trying to persuade Democrats that they should agree to limit EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases in return for GOP support for a carbon tax.  As regular readers will know, I’ve supported for years the idea of a grand bargain such as Senator Coons is now proposing.

I have never understood environmentalists’ opposition to such a deal. … More

A Carbon Tax Twofer. A Meat Tax? No, Sir.

It’s probably not news that the immediate prospects for a carbon tax aren’t great.  I still think that it’s going to seem impossible until, fairly suddenly, it actually happens.  Hope springs eternal.

In any case, there has been some news on the carbon tax front this month.  Here’s the quick summary.  The Climate Leadership Council, everyone’s favorite collection of Republicans who used to matter, released The Dividend Advantage,… More

We May Not Always Have Paris, But Perhaps We Can Do Better Than Paris

Earlier this week, the Climate Leadership Council released an analysis demonstrating that the “Baker Shultz Carbon Dividends Plan” would result in greater reductions in greenhouse gas emissions than the US committed to attaining under the 2015 Paris agreement.  I don’t doubt that the CLC analysis is right.  If I had to guess, I’d predict that they probably underestimate the reductions that would be reached with a robust carbon tax.… More

Let the Environmental Trade Wars Begin!

While speculation is rampant regarding just far President Trump will go to roll back progress on climate change in the United States, Nicolas Sarkozy has fired what might be called a metaphorical shot across Trump’s bow.  In a recent interview, Sarkozy, who is running once again in the French presidential race, stated that, if the United States jettisons the Paris agreement, Europe should impose a carbon tax of 1%-3% on goods from the United States.… More

Conservative Support for a Carbon Tax? Hope Springs Eternal

I have long thought that the best argument for market-based approaches to climate change scientists-clues-printmitigation was the clunkiness of the alternative.  However much time EPA has spent trying to make the GHG regulations efficient, no one can say that EPA’s proposal is elegant.

Although it is at best a dim glimmer of hope on the horizon, it was nonetheless comforting to see Jerry Taylor of the Libertarian Niskanen Center make “The Conservative Case for a Carbon Tax.”  While I don’t agree with every aspect of his proposal,… More

ExxonMobil Admits Climate Change Is Real. It also Imposes an Internal Cost on Carbon. Still Not Enough to Get Any Love From the Greens (Interesting Reading, Though)

Last week, in response to shareholder requests that it disclose information regarding how climate change might affect it in the future, ExxonMobil released two reports, one titled Energy and Climate, and one titled Energy and Carbon – Managing the Risks.  They actually make fascinating reading and seem to represent a new tack by ExxonMobil in its battle with those seeking aggressive action on climate change.… More

Probably All You Need to Know About the Prospects for a Price on Carbon Any Time Soon

Two trade press reports today make clear how difficult it will be to put a price on carbon in the U.S. any time soon. First, today’s ClimateWire reported that climate skeptics are trying to preempt any effort by conservative budget-balancers to use a carbon tax to accomplish budget goals while still cutting income taxes. ClimateWire quotes Myron Ebell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute as saying that

We have to make the idea of a carbon tax toxic.… More

Put a Price on It

Seemingly just in time to lend support to the revived idea of a carbon tax that we noted on Monday, an Obama Administration inter-agency workgroup has released a report that attempts to do the critical math necessary to put a price tag on CO2 emissions.

The report sets out four dollar figures that represent the “social cost of carbon,” or the potential damages associated with not stopping the emissions of each incremental ton of CO2. … More

Cap and Trade or Carbon Tax? How About Both?

As Congress considers approaches to climate change legislation, with pragmatists seeming generally to support a cap and trade system, while purists support a carbon tax, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has now weighed in with a new approach: How about both?

Although Massachusetts dithered a bit at the end of the Romney administration, it rejoined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Emission under Governor Patrick in time to participate in the first auction under the RGGI cap and trade program. Last week,… More