February 28, 2017 9:42 AM EDT
This morning the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology is holding a hearing on the social cost of carbon (SCC). Past experience indicates that the majority members on this committee are not big fans of science or facts. Hopefully, some of the witnesses at the hearing will get some real economic facts on the table. The most important one: climate change is costly and our policies need to reflect that reality. Read more >
February 26, 2014 11:50 AM EDT
Last November the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) solicited comments on the administration’s social cost of carbon (SCC) calculations. Today, as the extended comment period closes, the Union of Concerned Scientists filed joint comments with Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Institute for Policy Integrity (Policy Integrity), and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in support of the SCC. The current SCC value is an important start for measuring the benefits of cutting carbon pollution. At $37 per metric ton of CO2 in 2015 (2007 dollars, using a 3% discount rate), it is also almost certainly an underestimate of the costs of climate change and can be improved in the future. Read more >
July 18, 2013 10:21 AM EDT
The Obama administration has recently updated the official U.S. social cost of carbon (SCC), which attempts to estimate the costs of damage from carbon pollution. It’s one important way to show the value of cutting our global warming emissions. We’ll need to keep improving the SCC estimate to ensure it reflects the latest science and economics. We also have to ensure a more transparent process for updating and using this critical number going forward. But today’s House hearing on the SCC is simply a sideshow aimed at undermining climate action, not likely to focus on issues of substance. Read more >
How Pruitt Listens: Removing Clean Power Plan Web Resources Undermines Public Engagement
October 13, 2017 2:55 PM EDT
On Monday, Scott Pruitt, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, announced his long awaited formal proposal to repeal the Clean Power Plan, the defining regulation in President Barack Obama’s battle against climate change. Talk of the repeal has made headlines for months, after President Donald Trump’s executive order addressing energy and climate policy and his announcement that he intended to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. News about a potential replacement for the rule has swirled for weeks. Read more >