Common Resources

China’s Carbon Tax Plan

Xinhua reported recently that China will introduce a carbon tax. The actual announcement by Jia Chen from the Ministry of Finance buried the mention of the new carbon tax within a broader set of tax reform goals. Other reforms mentioned included the use of taxes to promote innovation and the development of small- and medium-sized businesses. This is […]

EPA and Global Carbon: Hiding in Plain Sight

This is the third post in a debate between RFF and Institute for Policy Integrity scholars over the best tools for EPA’s greenhouse gas regulations under the Clean Air Act. See Nathan Richardson’s critique of Policy Integrity’s recent petition to EPA. As Nathan Richardson rightly notes, debate over the best legal tools to craft climate […]

EPA and Global Carbon: Unnecessary Risk

This is the second post in a debate between RFF and Institute for Policy Integrity scholars over the best tools for EPA carbon regulation under the Clean Air Act. See the opening salvo from Jason Schwartz, and in particular Policy Integrity’s recent petition to the EPA. -ed Jason Schwartz and Michael Livermore at Policy Integrity are […]

EPA and Global Carbon: A Debate

This is a guest post by legal scholar Jason Schwartz, of the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU. It opens an exchange between Policy Integrity and RFF scholars discussing legal and policy aspects of greenhouse gas regulation under the Clean Air Act. -ed In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama promised that […]

Paying Ecuador to Protect the Rainforest

A recent episode of NPR’s Planet Money discussed Ecuador’s proposed solution to a national dilemma: the fact that a massive oil discovery and a national park happen to be in the same place. Ecuador’s proposal is to forswear drilling - but only if other countries donate half the value of the oil in aid (about $3.6 […]

Parsing the State of the Union

President Obama’s remarks on climate change on Tuesday were a mix of specificity and vagueness. It seems no two climate wonks interpret his State of the Union the same, leading to more questions than answers. The President linked specific trends—including high temperatures over the past 15 years and increased frequencies and intensities of heat waves, droughts, wildfires and floods—to […]

U.S. Emissions Trends: Optimism, Pessimism, and One Big Decision

This week, the World Resources Institute released a report addressing U.S. progress on reducing GHG emissions to date, and the prospects for further progress without new legislation putting a price on carbon. The tone of the report is cautionary – it claims that ambitious “go-getter” policies are required to achieve the President’s Copenhagen target of […]

RFF Feature: Valuing Climate Amenities in the United States

The value of climate amenities to households may have significant implications for estimates of the costs of climate change. A new RFF discussion paper examines the possibilities in the United States. To read the feature in its entirety, click here.

The Second Term of the Obama Administration

This post originally appeared on Robert Stavins’s blog, An Economic View of the Environment. In his inaugural address on January 21st, President Obama surprised many people – including me – by the intensity and the length of his comments on global climate change. Since then, there has been a great deal of discussion in the press […]

Climate in the Second Inaugural: Signal and Substance

In President Obama’s second inaugural address he singled out climate change as a policy priority, which would be an unusual step in any inaugural address. Over the last decade presidents have mentioned wounded travelers, deepest beliefs and lofty goals; but not specific policy priorities. For instance, the extent of President Obama’s statement about health care […]