Climate Policy

‘Subprime carbon’: Risk or hype? 1
Posted 1 week, 4 days ago Friends of the Earth argues that carbon trading could bring down the economy, putting climate policy into the hands of Bernie Madoff-style Wall Street bankers. Of course, this isn’t true. It’s not even sort of true. It’s just an attempt to torpedo the Kerry-Boxer clean-energy bill by sowing confusion about an important and sensitive issue.
Don't worry, be happy

Gaming cap-and-trade: Should we worry? 3
Posted 2 weeks, 3 days ago Worries about “gaming” or market manipulation sometimes crop up as an objection to cap-and-trade, often with reference to recent shenanigans in the financial markets. While distrust and concerns about scamming a carbon market are understandable, they’re not warranted.
More on gaming

Paul Krugman Versus Matt Taibbi 0
Posted 2 weeks, 3 days ago
Cap and Trade doesn’t have game

Have Cap-and-Trade Programs Been 0
Posted 2 weeks, 5 days ago
First Impressions

Kerry-Boxer Climate Bill: Preliminary Thoughts 0
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago
China steals Cimate Week spotlight, but U.S. still in the hot seat 1
Posted 2 months ago The U.S. was given a starring role at the United Nations Climate Summit on Tuesday, but China stole the show.
Power from the people

People pressure is key to action on climate change, say two climate movement leaders 4
Posted 2 months ago Activist Kumi Naidoo and economist Lord Nicholas Stern are cautiously optimistic about international action  on climate change. And they both agree that citizen pressure is the key.
Clean Energy Economy

Is China winning the clean energy race? 7
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago
Industrialized nations may find themselves borrowing and begging for new technologies that China has been busy perfecting all along.
In plain english

‘Citizen’s Guide’ primes readers for climate activism 2
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago
Two Middlebury students have authored a guide to climate policy to help every American understand the details and political context around the climate debate in Congress. The result is "The Citizen's Guide to Climate Policy."
Duelling diatribes

Hansen versus Romm 0
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago
For all of Waxman-Markey's faults, I think it gets two things right: (1) allowance set-asides to fund tropical forest conservation, and (2) a meaningful price floor...However, they leave W-M with no coherent policy foundation, because its other regulatory mechanisms -- the cap, trading, economy-wide linkage, banking, borrowing, and offsets -- all operate to achieve the converse objective of minimizing costs within limits of a predetermined (and unsustainable) emission cap.
Ken Johnson

Even More About Me 0
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago
More on Waxman-Markey

Revised and updated: Things I love—and hate—about Waxman-Markey 4
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago
The original version of this post originally appeared June 11, 2009. It was based on the version of the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act (H.R. 2454, or "Waxman-Markey") approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. By June 26, when the bill passed the House and headed to the Senate, it had grown by almost 480 pages. What changed?
Why Don’t Gas and Coal Love (Some) Climate Solutions?

Coal-nundrum and Ex-gas-peration 15
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago
Questions for utilities about the economics of climate solutions.
Glowing on us

Nuclear + cap-and-trade = bipartisan climate bill? 16
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago
Four members of the Obama administration appeared before the Senate committee charged with crafting climate change legislation on Tuesday in support of passing a strong bill out of the upper chamber. The hearing marked the Senate's first venture into climate policy this year.
Cap, Trade and Skeletons

Did Waxman-Markey’s ancestors really deliver on their promises? 10
Posted 4 months, 4 weeks ago
President Obama is betting that a cap-and-trade program can help solve the climate crisis. Southern California leaders hoped the same thing when they set up a cap-and-trade program to clean up the region's air. The results? See above.
Better study up on federal climate policy.

Cap-and-trade primer goes to Washington (DC) 0
Posted 5 months, 1 week ago
We all know that the devil's in the details when it comes to legislation, and the American Clean Energy and Security Act, a.k.a. Waxman-Markey, is no exception.
How do I love Waxman-Markey? Let me count the ways ...

14 things I love—and 6 things I hate—about Waxman-Markey 3
Posted 5 months, 2 weeks ago
Under withering fire, Waxman-Markey’s cap-and-trade superstructure is still intact. If it passes in its current form, we can all be pleased, but we’ll have to hold our breath, hoping that the offset provisions work as intended. Waxman-Markey could be the most important piece of energy or environmental legislation in a generation. It’s also much-needed economic policy: clean energy can be the path out of recession.