Grist | Topics | 25 Results

RESULTS		Results 1 – 25 of 25
Headline	Author	Published	Section
The conservative climate change problem An acknowledge-and-do-nothing strategy is little better than denialism	Ryan Avent	08 Jun 2008	Gristmill
Reihan Salam writes an incredibly disappointing, and boggling, blog post here, on his preferred strategies for dealing with climate change. Disappointing, because if Reihan, one of the best conservative writers out there, doesn't get the logic of carbon pricing, then there's little hope for some sort of conservative renaissance on climate change policy. Boggling, because Reihan is too smart a guy to get so many things wrong in such a short amount of time.Let me sta ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, climate change skepticism (all these topics)

Revkin: Can tax-and-dividend break the political deadlock? Now that L-W is dead, Barnes' sky trust is looking good	Gar Lipow	07 Jun 2008	Gristmill
Revkin speculates that Barnes' proposal is a way to break the deadlock stopping climate change legislation. I think he may be right. Tax emissions. (Or cap them and auction permits.) Refund the revenue to everybody. It has the following political advantages: It is simple and easy to understand. It puts a price on emissions without really penalizing anybody. It is a no-hair-shirt solution. This last point is worth emphasizing. It does not punish consumers, be ...
Topics: cap-and-dividend, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics)

Ah, the 'Can't do' spirit Standing up to Samuelson	Joseph Romm	04 Jun 2008	Gristmill
This post is by Bracken Hendricks, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. ----- In Monday's Washington Post, and a parallel piece in Newsweek, Robert Samuelson gets it wildly wrong on cap-and-trade, parroting a litany of falsehoods and misrepresentations concerning the most probable federal policy for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Like most detractors of action on global warming, Samuelson continues to push the unsubstantiated notion that reducing emi ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics)

The carbon lobby is big enough already Carbon trading creates perverse incentives	Gar Lipow	12 May 2008	Gristmill
I've said before that one problem with greenhouse-gas emissions trading (as opposed to a carbon price) is that it creates a whole new lobby with incentives to build the emissions market at the expense of actual emissions reductions. Speaking at the Carbon Expo trade fair in Cologne, Germany, Ken Newcombe, a pioneering carbon trader who currently works for Goldman Sachs provided an example: He described the concept of additionality -- the idea of proving that a projec ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation (all these topics)

Oh, Canada! More on B.C.'s carbon tax shift	Alan Durning	13 Mar 2008	Gristmill
On February 19, one of my colleagues at Sightline applauded British Columbia's new carbon tax shift. I've now had time to digest the plan. It's even better than we said, and the province could tweak it to make it better still. This policy is the purest instance of a tax shift that I've ever seen. It's an exceptionally faithful implementation of tax shifting -- a policy innovation Sightline has been promoting since 1994 and especially since our 1998 book. (A small bra ...
Topics: British Columbia, cap-and-dividend, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation (all these topics)

Thirty years later, they still won't make us safer The history of the 'safety valve' debate	Joseph Romm	13 Mar 2008	Gristmill
The new publication from E&E News, ClimateWire, ($ub. req'd), has a long article on the 'safety valve' debate and its history. I will reprint it in its entirety below because The issue is important and not going away. It is the most thorough piece I've seen. I was interviewed at length for it. One of my quotes they used is not something I would have said in a short interview. First, some background: I have blogged repeatedly on why a safety valve is a ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, Kyoto Protocol, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Tax-and-rebate vs. auction-and-rebate The major differences between carbon pricing plans are political	Gar Lipow	19 Feb 2008	Gristmill
Putting a price on carbon is probably an unavoidable part of phasing out fossil fuels to fight global warming and air pollution. For years, Peter Barnes has advocated a brilliant means of mitigating many of the harmful economic side effects: take the revenue from carbon taxes or auctions and rebate it back to the people, dividing it equally among each citizen. Barnes advocates doing this via an auctioned permit system. However,the same thing could be done with a car ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, energy, politics (all these topics)

Canuck the Trend Canada should consider adopting carbon tax, says panel		07 Jan 2008	News
Posted at 12:53 PM on 07 Jan 2008 Canada should strongly consider adopting a carbon tax along with an emissions cap-and-trade system, a panel of experts advised the government today. The panel had been asked for advice on how Canada could meet its goal of reducing emissions by 45 to 65 percent of 2003 levels by 2050. Environment Minister John Baird put the kibosh on a country-wide carbon tax last year, but the province of Qu ...
Topics: Canada, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, news, politics (all these topics)

Carbon policy in tonight's Dem debate Obama puts the 100 percent auction idea into the mainstream	David Roberts	06 Jan 2008	Gristmill
There were presidential debates on both sides tonight. I don't have cable, so I didn't watch them. However, a friend sent along this bit of transcript from the Dem, from a question on climate policy: GIBSON: All right. Let me turn to something else. Reversing -- you invoked the name of Al Gore a few moments ago -- reversing or slowing global warming is going to take sacrifice. I'm sort of sorry Chris Dodd isn't here because he's talked a lot about a carbon ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, elections, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics)

Cap dunce A carbon tax isn't the only solution	Clark Williams-Derry	07 Dec 2007	Gristmill
At least someone gets it: All three of the leading Democratic candidates have proposed cap-and-trade plans that auction 100% of their CO2 permits. This is, economically speaking, the same thing as a carbon tax. The context: New York Times columnist Tom Friedman is complaining that no major presidential candidate has proposed a carbon tax -- which he takes as evidence that nobody has had the guts to take a stand in favor of policies that would " ...
Topics: carbon tax, climate, climate change mitigation, carbon trading (all these topics)

Larry Craig's climate views belong in the toilet Sen. Craig believes a cap-and-trade system is pointless	Joseph Romm	10 Nov 2007	Gristmill
OK, maybe it's a good thing that the morally-challenged senator is on the other side of the debate. He recently said: My position is perfectly clear: a cap and trade system is obsolete in its approach to green house gas reductions, it has not worked, and I do not see it working. Yes a very good position for a delayer, since a carbon tax is a political nonstarter (and dubious for other reasons), while a technology-only strategy can't do the job. This is not, ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, politics (all these topics)

Carbon tax vs. cap-and-trade, part kajillion No carbon reduction program is a silver bullet	David Roberts	06 Nov 2007	Gristmill
Something about NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg's arguments for a carbon tax struck me as a little too glib, too pat. Barack Obama's energy advisor Madhuri Kommareddi does as good a job as anyone of explaining why, arguing that a cap-and-auction system beats a carbon tax on the merits: Why this system instead of carbon tax? What's important to note is that we're implementing a 100% auction of cap-and-trade credits. This has the same effect as carbon tax -- bec ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, energy, politics (all these topics)

CBO vs. ACSA = TKO The Congressional Budget Office savages the Lieberman-Warner approach to climate change pol	David Roberts	05 Nov 2007	Gristmill
America's Climate Security Act, the Senate climate bill offered by Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.), offers enormous giveaways to the nation's biggest polluters, in the form of billions of dollars worth of free pollution permits, which won't be zeroed out until 2036. Last Thursday, while the bill was passing through subcommittee, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office was testifying to the House Budget Committee on "Approaches to Reducing ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, greenhouse-gas emissions, legislation, politics (all these topics)

My reply to Bloomberg's speech in Seattle Carbon taxes, cap-and-trade, and getting things right	Eric de Place	02 Nov 2007	Gristmill
New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg just gave a bombshell speech here in Seattle calling for a federal carbon tax. (Full text of the speech is here, scroll down.) First off, way to go, Bloomberg! (In fact, Sightline Institute's Anna Fahey has written about Bloomberg's awesome framing.) But now, with my researcher's hat on, I think it's worth it to clarify a few things. While many of Bloomberg's arguments in favor of a carbon tax were spot-on, he made some ver ...
Topics: carbon tax, climate, energy, carbon trading, climate change mitigation (all these topics)

Donning his cap Dingell endorses a cap-and-trade climate plan	Brian Beutler	03 Oct 2007	Gristmill
Just days after releasing his carbon-and-gas tax proposal for public comment, House Energy and Commerce Chair John Dingell (D-Auto) -- along with Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Coal) of Virginia -- has released a report [PDF] endorsing an economy-wide cap-and-trade program. In an odd but welcome turn, the 22-page white paper reads:The United States should reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by between 60 and 80 percent by 2050 to contribute to efforts to address climate chan ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, energy, John Dingell, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Clinton Global Initiative: Clinton chats with the press Bill Clinton wanted a carbon market back in the day, and he still does	Brian Beutler	27 Sep 2007	Gristmill
Bill Clinton just gave a short speech and took a few questions from reporters. Some highlights: When they were in office, Bill Clinton and Al Gore wanted to create a global carbon market. At the time, Europe thought the idea undesirable and unfeasible and didn't offer any support. The effort failed. Now, years down the line, the world is a different place and the idea has much more purchase. Clinton, when asked for his thoughts on this, managed to turn all of his ...
Topics: Bill Clinton, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, international politics, politics (all these topics)

Which way to screw the consumer WSJ on the carbon tax vs. cap-and-trade debate	David Roberts	13 Sep 2007	Gristmill
People keep emailing me this Wall Street Journal piece on the debate between carbon tax and cap-and-trade, but as far as I can tell there's nothing new in it. This is well-trod ground on sites like Grist. The one interesting thing about it is this graphic: For reasons Sean has well-described, I don't believe these kinds of figures. They are undergirded by tons of arguable assumptions. More to the point: as long as every story about fighting climate change is about ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, energy (all these topics)

Why cap-and-trade or carbon taxes alone won't solve global warming, and why we still need them Correcting two misunderstandings	Gar Lipow	13 Aug 2007	Gristmill
As we discuss 'cap-and-steal' (aka 'cap-and-trade'), 'cap-and-sell' (aka 'cap-and-auction'), and carbon taxes -- three ways of putting prices on carbon -- it is worth remembering that putting a price on greenhouse-gas emissions is not enough to bring them under control. Gristmill is full of posts showing ways to save carbon at a profit. David posted an interview on Recycled Energy today that points to something that has been known, but mostly ignored, for over thirty year ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, energy (all these topics)

Has 'carbon tax' entered the world of the possible? Dingell floats it; Boucher knocks it down	David Roberts	21 Jun 2007	Gristmill
Hmm? What's all this now? John Dingell is floating the possibility of a carbon tax? From CongressNow (sub. rqd.): Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), who will play a key role in crafting the House version of comprehensive climate change legislation, on Wednesday night downplayed speculation that the House bill could include some form of a tax on carbon dioxide emissions. Boucher, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce energy and air quality subcommittee, last night said ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, energy, John Dingell, legislation, US House of Representatives (all these topics)

Doing carbon right What good carbon policy should -- but often doesn't -- reward	Sean Casten	21 Jun 2007	Gristmill
Too much of the debate on carbon-control policy starts from flawed assumptions. Take those assumptions away, and one quickly realizes that we have a lot of pretty good options. Let's parse the carbon policy argument, and think for a moment about how to best engender the most economically beneficial carbon reduction policy. First, let's strike any false assumptions from our logic: Let's not assume that it costs money to reduce carbon emissions until proven othe ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics)

Many policies, one goal It's all about raising the price of carbon	David Roberts	20 Jun 2007	Gristmill
Robert Reich -- Secretary of Labor under Clinton, economic policy professor/pundit -- has a somewhat confused column up advocating for a "carbon auction." In particular, it's not clear whether he's talking about politics or policy, which is a confusion that generally plagues this discussion. He rejects a carbon tax because it will be politically unpopular. The holy-and-sanctified Middle Class won't put up with it. He rejects a cap-and-trade system because ...
Topics: cap-and-dividend, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, politics (all these topics)

The latest carbon abatement policy arguments Carbon tax v. cap and trade -- the hottest arguments since McCartney v. Lennon	David Roberts	07 Jun 2007	Gristmill
The argument over the best climate change mitigation policy is gathering steam. Busting out all over. Topping the charts. All the kids are dancing to it. Before getting to the latest, though, it's worth making a simple point: either cap-and-trade or a carbon tax could reduce GHG emissions if properly designed and implemented; either could be ineffectual if poorly designed and implemented. So: Either one is better than nothing. Nobody's allowed to check out on ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation (all these topics)

Cap-and-trade and a carbon tax: two great tastes, but do they taste great together? And if not, why not?	David Roberts	15 May 2007	Gristmill
A journalist of some renown called me last week to ask a question: would it be possible to do both a cap-and-trade program and a carbon tax? Al Gore famously urged that approach, but this journo had heard from other (reliable) sources that it's not possible. My instinctive answer was yeah, sure, there's no reason you couldn't do it. (I mean, there are a gazillion political reasons it's impossible, but there's no technical or regulatory reason you couldn't do it.) ...
Topics: Al Gore, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, politics (all these topics)

Carbon tax news Could the unthinkable become thinked?	David Roberts	07 May 2007	Gristmill
Over on MyDD, Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) discusses the carbon tax bill he recently introduced. My legislation, the Save Our Climate Act (H.R. 2069), would tax coal, petroleum and natural gas at a rate of $10 per ton of carbon content. Applied when these fossil fuels are initially removed from the ground, the tax would increase by $10 each year, freezing when a mandated report by the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Energy determines that carbon d ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, Congress, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Carbon trading vs. carbon taxes on Science Friday	Andrew Dessler	25 Mar 2007	Gristmill
The question of climate change has finally moved on from is it happening? to what should we do about it?. There has been some great discussion here at Grist on carbon trading vs. carbon taxes (e.g., here or here). For those who want more, Bill Chameides, chief scientist of Environmental Defense, was on Science Friday to talk about carbon trading. Check out the mp3 here. Bill basically reiterates the points he made here on Gristmill a while back. But it's still wort ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation (all these topics)

Stories About: carbon tax AND carbon trading AND climate AND climate change mitigation