EU Goals and the Post 2020 Climate Negotiations
While many nations (including the United States) have had little public discussion regarding the post-2020 climate agreement to be adopted in Paris next year, public debate has been ongoing in Europe for some time. Last week, the European Commission announced new targets, recognizing that approaches should accommodate “the need for economic growth and industrial competitiveness."
In a new issue of Resources magazine, RFF’s Brian Flannery writes that “the ultimate climate agreement is more likely to reflect bottom-up pledges based on national priorities and circumstances.” He suggests this approach may foster greater participation and long-term progress than approaches tied to strict, mandatory global outcomes.
Regulating Power Plant Emissions
The US Environmental Protection Agency’s move to propose carbon pollution standards for existing power plants has prompted some in Congress to cry foul. Republican leadership called the regulations “a new, expanded front in [the Obama administration’s] war on coal,” and argued that the rules “would effectively ban coal-fired power plants from being built in the future.” However, not all Republicans seem to agree on that idea.
RFF’s Nathan Richardson, an expert on these regulations, notes that if the Clean Air Act “destroys the American coal industry, it will not have acted alone.” He explains: “Cheap natural gas and environmental regulation that has nothing to do with climate...have already dealt coal a serious, and possibly mortal, blow.”
Philanthropy for Parks
Recently, US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said that “budget paralysis in Washington has forced her to seek help from the private sector.” Specifically, she called upon private donors to finance a youth conservation corps “to put 100,000 youths to work on public lands.”
In new research, RFF’s Margaret Walls examines a trend in which public parks and conservancies rely largely on private donations to replace slashed government budgets. She cautions that while such philanthropy might work for specific projects, it can also bring an uncertainty in the year-to-year revenue stream needed for critical operational expenses.