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| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
A compulsive ... nontruth-teller
John McCain avoids using the word 'mandatory' when discussing cap-and-trade |
Joseph Romm |
14 Feb 2008 |
Gristmill |
| When will the media stop calling McCain a straight-talker and realize he is a pathological doubletalker? I realize the 'L' word is frowned upon in politics, so instead of using that word, which, in any case, doesn't do justice to the full range of doubletalk in the political arena -- let's just imagine there is an agreed-upon objective scale from 1 to 10 of veracity (with 5 being half-true) that goes something like this: (10) Fred Thompson, December 2007: 'I' ... |
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| Topics: carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, elections, energy, John McCain, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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Get it right the first time
Carl Pope of the Sierra Club lays out a blueprint for an effective climate bill |
Guest author |
14 Feb 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The following is a guest essay by Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. ----- There are moments when a choice of pathways shapes the future -- and makes success either feasible or impossible. In light of the fact that all of the remaining leading presidential candidates call for some kind of action on global warming, and the Lieberman-Warner bill is already working its way through the Senate, almost everyone recognizes that sometime in the n ... |
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| Topics: carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, energy, environmental movement, legislation, politics (all these topics) |
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The shape of the race
The next U.S. president will favor a carbon cap. What effect this has on the race is anyone's guess. |
Adam Stein |
08 Feb 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Now that John McCain is the presumptive Republican nominee, the shape of the debate over climate change takes on different contours. Hillary and Obama are offering substantively similar climate plans, so there's no need to wait for the Democratic contest to be decided before we start gaming out a few scenarios. 1) Will climate change take on more or less prominence as an issue in the general election? Argument for less: with everyone preaching from the same book, th ... |
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| Topics: carbon trading, climate, elections, energy, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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Cap-and-trade and fairness for working families
A second opportunity to make climate pricing fair |
Alan Durning |
07 Feb 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Climate policy offers an enormous opportunity not only to undo our fossil-fuel addiction and build a stable energy future, but also to reverse the natural unfairness of climate change itself. I've said it before: energy prices are going up no matter what, with or without climate policy. But smart policy can turn rising costs into broadly shared benefits. It can shield working families, fund a shift to a clean future of new technologies, compact communities, and a tr ... |
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| Topics: cap-and-dividend, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions, politics (all these topics) |
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Cap-and-trade: The economic fairness issue
Grandfathering is Robin Hood's evil twin |
Alan Durning |
31 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Climate change is regressive. Its effects punish the least fortunate the most -- those who've contributed little to and gained little from polluting economies. But the solutions to climate change can be progressive. Done right, they can share fairly the burdens and opportunities of preventing climate disruption. I said 'can.' If poorly designed, climate policy can also be viciously regressive -- a vacuum cleaner sucking up working families' earning. That's why i ... |
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| Topics: cap-and-dividend, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, energy (all these topics) |
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Notable quotable
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David Roberts |
30 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| "... there are a number of pieces of legislation where [McCain's] views are out of the mainstream, at least in my view, of conservative Republican thought. So, for instance, he's opposed to drilling in ANWR, I believe. ... ... And then now McCain-Lieberman, which is a unilateral -- meaning U.S.-only imposed -- cap-and-trade program, which puts a burden, as much as 50 cents a gallon, on gasoline in this country. It basically says Americans are going to pa ... |
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| Topics: Arctic refuge, carbon trading, climate, elections, energy, John McCain, Mitt Romney, oil and gas drilling, politics, presidential race 08, quotables (all these topics) |
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Auctioneering
An account of a House hearing on auctioning permits under cap-and-trade |
David Roberts |
28 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Last Wednesday, the House Global Warming Committee held a hearing on "auctions and revenue recycling in cap and trade," which took a close look at the advantages of auctioning (rather than giving away) pollution permits under a cap and trade system, and what might be done with the revenue. I didn't manage to watch the hearing, but as always it has been ably summarized by the mysteriously monickered The Cunctator, publisher and editor of Hill Heat. If you're ... |
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| Topics: carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, energy, legislation, politics (all these topics) |
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Climate change in last night's GOP debate
McCain's doubletalk express on global warming |
Joseph Romm |
25 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| If you think Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is a straight-talking, courageous politician on the issue of global warming, watch this jaw-dropping clip from last night's Republican presidential debate: The transcript is online, so we can go through McCain's entire Orwellian answer to moderator Tim Russert. [Note: This was following a question to Giuliani about the global warming threat to Florida and his opposition to mandatory caps, which I'll briefly discu ... |
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| Topics: carbon trading, climate, elections, energy, John McCain, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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Notable quotable
What is a conservative? |
Sean Casten |
24 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| From Restructuring Today ($ub req'd), reporting on Markey's hearings on allocation vs. auction as a cap & trade methodology: Even conservative Harvard economist Gregory Mankiw believes a free allocation amounts to corporate welfare. Even conservative? |
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| Topics: carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, economy, politics, quotables (all these topics) |
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As nations trail behind ...
States and provinces lead on climate initiatives |
Patrick Mazza |
23 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| 'State and regional governments around the world ... are fast becoming an essential and effective part of the movement to combat climate change,' says The Climate Group in a new report.'Low Carbon Leader: States and Regions' (PDF) profiles 12 exemplars including California, which in 2006 enacted the first economy-wide cap on carbon emissions in the U.S., and Northeast states moving to implement the first U.S. carbon cap-and-trade system. The report notes that U.S. st ... |
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| Topics: carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, energy, politics, state politics (all these topics) |
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Cap-and-trade 101
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Joseph Romm |
22 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The Center for American Progress has put out a clear and concise description of 'What Is Cap and Trade, and How Can We Implement It Successfully? |
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| Topics: carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, education (all these topics) |
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WCI and transportation fuels
Why the West should worry about transportation emissions |
Eric de Place |
08 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Well, Clark and I are traveling to Portland for a batch of meetings related to the Western Climate Initiative. On the off chance that you'll miss us, I thought I'd share some of what we're working on with WCI. Our biggest obsession right now is transportation fuels. Namely, we believe it's critically important that transportation fuels be covered by an 'upstream' cap in the first phase of the program. Here's more: Why should the WCI cover transportation fuel ... |
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| Topics: carbon trading, climate, economy, energy, politics, public transportation (all these topics) |
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Canuck the Trend
Canada should consider adopting carbon tax, says panel |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: Canada, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, news, politics (all these topics) |
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Moving money in the economy
More on climate policy in the Dem debate |
David Roberts |
06 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Responding to some of the comments on Dot Earth: Obama is right that a cap-and-trade program with 100 percent auctioned permits would be the functional equivalent of a carbon tax. Yes that does, in Richardson's rather daft phrase, "take money out of the economy," in the sense that any tax does. Happily, the other half of Obama's plan is to plow the money right back into the economy, reducing the financial hit on the working class, supporting renewable energ ... |
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| Topics: Barack Obama, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, economy, elections, Hillary Clinton, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, elections, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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Peter Barnes' cap-and-dividend plan is fatally incomplete
An effective climate plans needs to incorporate intelligently regulated energy efficiency standards |
Joseph Romm |
05 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Andy Revkin at the NY Times has given a lot of ink to the cap-and-dividend plan (see here and here) by Peter Barnes, a founder of Working Assets. Revkin says Barnes 'has long studied various bills and proposals for cutting emissions of carbon dioxide to limit global warming. He sees fatal flaws in every one.' I don't see any fatal flaws in either Obama's plan or Mrs. Clinton's -- they are both terrific and comprehensive, unlike Barnes'. His goal is the same as their ... |
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| Topics: cap-and-dividend, carbon trading, climate, energy, energy efficiency, politics (all these topics) |
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Why grandfathering sucks
More on cap-and-trade systems |
Clark Williams-Derry |
04 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Here's a clear demonstration of why, in a cap-and-trade system, grandfathering emissions rights to historic polluters is a terrible idea: The UK's biggest polluters will reap a windfall of at least £6bn from rising power prices and the soaring value of carbon under the new European carbon trading scheme ... Critics argue ... that the scheme, under which nearly all allowances are granted free of charge rather than having to be bought by big polluters ... |
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| Topics: carbon trading, climate, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics) |
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The year ahead
What will it take to make 2008 great? |
Joseph Romm |
04 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The following guest post is by Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), originally published on Climate Progress. He is the co-author of Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy. ----- Now that our New Year's Eve party hats are put away, it's time to look to the next year in the battle against global warming. In the year 2007, some good things did indeed happen on this front. Measures significantly improving car mileage standards and promoting the growth of re ... |
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| Topics: brilliance, carbon trading, climate, energy, George Bush, green living, innovation, politics, tech (all these topics) |
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Big Ol' Jet Air Whiner
Plan to regulate airline emissions moves forward in E.U. |
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21 Dec 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 4:26 PM on 21 Dec 2007 A proposed law that would regulate emissions from airlines taking off from or landing in the European Union has been approved by environment ministers. The bill to include airlines in the E.U.'s carbon-trading scheme was scaled back from the version passed by the E.U. Parliament last month, aiming to start in 2012 instead of 2011 and making airlines buy only 10 percent of their carbo ... |
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| Topics: air travel, business, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, European Union, greenhouse-gas emissions, legislation, news, politics (all these topics) |
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Exchange Students
New Green Exchange to be launched |
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12 Dec 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 10:14 AM on 12 Dec 2007 In a huge boost for carbon trading, Nymex Holdings Inc. and a group of Wall Street trading houses are planning to launch a Green Exchange for trading environmental products, including carbon credits. Trading is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2008. sources: The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, CNN Money see also, in Grist: Chicago Climate Exchange paves the way for U.S. emissions trading < Previous ... |
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| Topics: business, carbon trading, climate, green products, news (all these topics) |
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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 " ... |
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| Topics: carbon tax, climate, climate change mitigation, carbon trading (all these topics) |
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Cap-and-trade through musical chairs
A quick, easy-to-follow introduction to the basics of cap-and-trade legislation |
David Roberts |
06 Dec 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Holmes Hummel, a Stanford PhD and Congressional Science Fellow for Rep. Jay Inslee, has put together two PowerPoint presentations, one brief, one longer. She says: "These overview pieces are for The Curious & Concerned, a growing number of people who understand the importance of a federal climate policy but are confused by the framework of the current proposals."The slideshows explain cap-and-trade legislation through an analogy with musical chairs, w ... |
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| Topics: carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, energy, legislation, politics (all these topics) |
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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. ... |
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| Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, energy, politics (all these topics) |
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Keep it simple, stupid!
How to structure a cap-and-trade program |
Clark Williams-Derry |
05 Dec 2007 |
Gristmill |
| From an awesomely meaty article on cap-and-trade from The San Francisco Chronicle comes this pearl of wisdom (in bold at the bottom of the quote): [T]he lesson of the acid rain program is to keep the plan simple and easy for all parties to understand. "If it starts to employ a lot of special provisions to take care of every party's special needs ... and if it starts to look like the Chicago phone book, then throw it out," [RFF economist Dallas ... |
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| Topics: business, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: business, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, energy (all these topics) |
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