Carbon Tax Announcements
Earlier this month, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) introduced legislation calling for a tax on carbon and methane emissions in an effort to mitigate the effects of greenhouse gases. She proposed allocating the tax revenue toward consumer rebates and clean energy projects. China has also recently announced a decision to implement a carbon tax, which it calls an “environmental protection tax,” although it is unclear how such a tax will interact with its current cap-and-trade program.
In an article for Resources magazine, Ian Parry (formerly of RFF and currently with the International Monetary Fund) and RFF’s Rob Williams review various climate policies and find that “a carbon tax…has a substantial cost advantage over cap-and-trade systems” because of the opportunity to use revenues to substitute for tax increases. Both authors will join an expert panel this Wednesday at RFF to discuss the role a carbon tax might play in reforming the US tax code: “Comprehensive Tax Reform and Climate Policy.” Register for the event here.
Cloud Seeding
The Indonesian government has begun cloud seeding—injecting chemicals into clouds to increase the frequency of rain production—to help prevent further flooding in Jakarta. Even though this strategy will bring more precipitation, experts believe that inducing rain to fall over the ocean, before the clouds reach land, can help avert flooding.
2005 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences Thomas Schelling recently spoke at RFF on the topic of geoengineering as part of the Resources 2020 lecture series. He highlighted the need to cautiously test such experiments, but also expressed concern about potential unknown global implications: “There would probably need to be recognition that if a nation is harmed, [from the effects of geoengineering] whether it can sue the perpetrators…or ask for compensation? Would any international body assume jurisdiction?” Video of the full lecture is available here.
