Grist | Topics | 21 Results

RESULTS		Results 1 – 21 of 21
Headline	Author	Published	Section
'There is no box' Lester Brown unveils plan for 80 percent cuts by 2020	Jon Rynn	02 Jul 2008	Gristmill
Lester R. Brown, President of the Earth Policy Institute and author, most recently, of Plan B, Version 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, released a new study today called 'Time for Plan B: Cutting carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2020.' I was invited to participate in a conference call in which Lester explained many of the highlights of the plan; I will do my best to share what he said (any mistakes are my own). First, it appears that the only comprehensive plan to ...
Topics: cap-and-dividend, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions, public transportation, renewable energy (all these topics)

Carbon pricing: Not Archimedes' lever Putting a price on carbon is only the first step in energy policy	David Roberts	10 Jun 2008	Gristmill
There's certainly a great deal of logic to what Ezra says here -- it would be nice if an upstream price on carbon would automatically rejigger the price of everything, right down to chips and candy bars. What could be a more gratifying solution than moving the behavior of every single consumer in a rational direction by applying pressure to a single policy lever? I hope it's that easy. I suspect carbon prices will not be like dye in water, diffusing equally everywher ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, energy (all these topics)

Fear of the day	David Roberts	03 Jun 2008	Gristmill
What if the anticipation of carbon legislation has driven more investment away from coal than actual carbon legislation will?
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, coal, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions, legislation (all these topics)

Electric shock Big increases coming in electric costs	Sean Casten	14 May 2008	Gristmill
From the 'Things Grist readers already knew' file comes this report from ClimateWire ($ub. req'd) that price shocks are looming for power plant operators, even before the costs of carbon are factored in. A few excerpts below the fold:[F]rom the utility industry's point of view, the coming price on a ton of carbon dioxide pollution couldn't have come at a worse time. ... 'There's one really basic, I think really important fact, which is that we don't really have full t ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, coal, energy (all these topics)

When does additionality matter? Part 4 The carbon offset market needs additionality	Adam Stein	12 Apr 2008	Gristmill
This post is the slightly tardy conclusion of a series (see parts one, two, and three). Let's wrap this up by shifting gears a bit. Additionality is central and essential part of the carbon offset market. Additionality is also, in the long term, probably not relevant to the energy efficiency market. The reason hinges on the difference between carbon offsets and carbon allowances. Both are often lumped together under the term 'carbon credits,' but they're different in ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, energy (all these topics)

ECO:nomics: Presidential energy advisors Campaign energy wonks clarify candidates' differences on climate change	David Roberts	15 Mar 2008	Gristmill
As Adam pointed out, it seems to have become conventional wisdom among media that the presidential candidates' positions on climate change are roughly identical. But the campaigns themselves don't see it that way. That became clear during a panel featuring the candidates' top energy advisors. Obama was represented by Jason Grumet, whose day job is running the Bipartisan Policy Center. The Clinton campaign sent Gene Sperling, senior fellow at both the Council of Fo ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, energy, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics)

A glass potentially more than half full What's right with the WCI?	Clark Williams-Derry	11 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Last week, my colleague Eric de Place dinged the Western Climate Initiative -- an effort by Western states and provinces to develop a carbon market with a strict, declining cap -- for kicking the can down the road on transportation fuels. Of course, the WCI has not ruled out the possibility of capping emissions from the transportation sector. They've just delayed a decision until they run some more economic analysis. So there's no reason to gnash our teeth o ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, energy (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)

The good and the bad Why cap-and-trade is preferable to a carbon tax	Clark Williams-Derry	06 Dec 2007	Gristmill
The Washington Post ran an interesting op-ed in its Think Tank Town section last week, arguing for a carbon tax. The nut graph: The only effective way to begin reducing greenhouse gas emissions and slow global climate change is to make it more expensive to emit carbon dioxide. Unless businesses and consumers pay a price for carbon dioxide, neither will make the investments in technology and changes in energy use needed to dramatically reduce emissions. ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, energy, politics (all these topics)

Not-so-great grandfathering Cap-and-trade vs. a carbon tax	Clark Williams-Derry	27 Nov 2007	Gristmill
I don't know what to say about this article, which is largely a critique of a grandfathered "cap-and-trade" system for reducing greenhouse emissions. On the one hand, I shouldn't complain. Any serious discussion in the press of climate policy is welcome. But on the other hand -- jeez, is it so hard to get climate policy right? My problem isn't so much that the article gets things wrong (though it does). It's that it tells, at most, half the stor ...
Topics: business, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, energy (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)

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, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, energy (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: politics, climate, energy, legislation, John Dingell, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate change mitigation (all these topics)

Quote of the day Dingell gets off a zinger in a testy interview	David Roberts	27 Sep 2007	Gristmill
"I run a legislative committee. Mr. Markey runs around the world watching glaciers melt." -- Rep. John Dingell Ouch. That comes from a characteristically testy interview Dingell did with Newsweek. It's worth reading the whole thing. I don't know what his intent is with this carbon tax bill, but I will say that the tenor of his message on global warming is politically disastrous. It is, paraphrasing, this: "Global warming is a serious problem. Solving ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, energy, John Dingell, legislation, politics, quotables (all these topics)

Capping carbon: Is nothing better than something? On whether to advocate weaker climate change bills	Joseph Romm	22 Sep 2007	Gristmill
This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Bill Becker, Executive Director of the Presidential Climate Action Project. How fearsome must the headlines be about tomorrow before people change their ways today? -- Nancy Gibbs, TIME In Greenland today, the ice is thawing at a pace that is alarming climate scientists. Meanwhile in Washington, D.C., Congress remains frozen on the issue of carbon pricing. And that may be a good thing. Carbon pricing, as most r ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, energy, grassroots activism, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Tackling climate: Beltway tone-deafness edition On subsidizing 'green' energy R&D	Brian Beutler	17 Sep 2007	Gristmill
In its 'green' issue this week, The New Republic features an excerpt from Ted Nordhaus and Michael Schellenberger's new book, Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility. Their basic point is that the emphasis of the political debate is all wrong. I'm not sure they really understand how things are shaping up, but they're saying that politicians should spend less 'time' talking about regulatory approaches, and more time reiterati ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, coal, energy, innovation, 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)

Pricing carbon Give away rights or sell them?	Gar Lipow	03 Aug 2007	Gristmill
Joseph Romm in his post on Dingell's carbon tax proposal says: Politically, you can't raise carbon prices high enough to raise gasoline prices since even $1 a gallon -- probably the minimum to significantly change fuel economy if Europe is any evidence -- would require a carbon charge of $400 per tonne of carbon -- which would be very harsh to coal, adding more than 10 cents per kilowatt-hour to coal electricity, and politically impossible (I'll post more on this late ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, energy, politics (all these topics)

Is this the right time to attack Dingell? He's pro-carbon tax, anti-CAFE -- which matters more?	David Roberts	27 Jun 2007	Gristmill
Last week, Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), chair of the Energy & Commerce Committee, dropped this bomb (sub. rqd.): My own judgment is that we are going to have to adopt a cap-and-trade system and some form of carbon emission fee to achieve the reductions we need. Lest you missed it, 'carbon emission fee' is clever poli-speak for carbon tax. Meanwhile, the liberal grassroots group MoveOn has launched a full frontal assault on Dingell, with radio ads calling him ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, energy, John Dingell, politics (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)

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