Allies on Taxing Carbon
- Environmental Law and Policy Center
- Friends of the Earth
- Citizens Climate Lobby
- Climate Crisis Coalition
- Progressive Democrats of America
- US Climate Task Force
- Million Letter March
- Students for a Just and Stable Future
- Peaceful Uprising
- Republican Leadership Network
- Future 500
- Earth Policy Institute
- Institute for Policy Studies
- Price Carbon Campaign
Organizations That Have Raised Concerns About Cap-and-Trade with Offsets and Have Pointed to Simpler, More Direct CO2 Pricing Mechanisms
- Cap & Dividend
- Chesapeake Climate Action Network
- Taxpayers for Common Sense
- Get America Working
- 350.org
- Public Citizen
Mainstream Environmental Groups
These groups supported cap-and-trade with offsets when Congress considered climate legislation in 2007-2010. After cap-and-trade’s third defeat in the Senate in 2010, we urge these influential groups to support more direct, transparent carbon-pricing mechanisms.
- Sierra Club
- Natural Resources Defense Council
- Union of Concerned Scientists
- Environmental Defense Fund
- Environmental Advocates of New York
- League of Conservation Voters
- Center for Climate & Energy Solutions (former Pew Center on Global Climate Change)
- The Nature Conservancy
- World Resources Institute
- See also, U.S. Climate Action Partnership, the alliance of polluters (most were promised free allowances or other subsidies in the Waxman-Markey cap/trade bill), traders and environmental groups supporting cap/trade with offsets.
Information Sources on Climate and Policy
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Top international scientific body, represents scientific consensus on global warming - United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Website of Kyoto signatories - Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center
U.S. Department of Energy’s climate-change data center - U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Global Warming FAQs
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
Ongoing effort (begun 2003) to craft permit rules for cap-and-trade system governing carbon emissions from electricity generation in Northeast U.S. - National Academy of Sciences
- U.S. Energy Information Agency
- Earth Track Understanding and monitoring environmentally-harmful subsidies.
Presentations, Visuals, etc.
- Dr James Hansen Presentation on Climate Science at Wesleyan Pricing Carbon Conference, Nov. 2010
- Dr Gary Yohe Presentation on Economic Rationale for Carbon Pricing at Wesleyan Pricing Carbon Conference, Nov. 2010
- Climate Policy Debate [Komanoff/Barnes/Lashoff] at Wesleyan Pricing Carbon Conference, Nov. 2010
- Charles Komanoff debates EDF at The New School, April 2010
- Dan Rosenblum on PBS News Hour, April 2007
- An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore’s consciousness-raising, Oscar-winning (2006) movie
- Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change
High-level UK report on the costs of not addressing climate change - David Suzuki video on climate/carbon tax
- “The Story of Cap & Trade” (Animated, by Annie Leonard)
- Laurie Williams & Alan Zabel’s “Huge Mistake” video
- What’s Wrong With the Social Cost of Carbon? (Frank Ackerman, Stockholm Climate Institute, Webinar, 2010)
- Comprehensive Tax Reform and U.S. Energy Policy (Testimony of Prof. Dale Jorgenson to Sen. Finance Committee 6/13/12). Recommends environmental tax on fossil fuel as part of broad fiscal and tax reform.
Books
Shi-Ling Hsu (Law Prof, Economist) “The Case for a Carbon Tax“
James Hansen (Climate Scientist), “Storms of My Grandchildren”
William Nordhaus (Economist) “Question of Balance”
Janet Milne (Law Professor),“The Reality of Carbon Taxes in the 21st Century”
Lester Brown (A realistic path to a sustainable future), “Plan B 4.0”
Climate News Digests
- Environmental Health News (Climate Change page)
- EESI Climate Change News
- Daily Climate (www.dailyclimate.org)
Policy Journals & Papers
- Environmental Taxation and the Double Dividend (Lawrence Goulder, Stanford, 1994). Seminal articulation of the dual benefits of replacing taxes on income and work with taxes to discourage pollution.
- When Can Carbon Abatement Policies Increase Welfare? The Fundamental Role of Distorted Factor Markets (Ian Parry, Roberton Williams & Lawrence Goulder, Resources for the Future, 1998). General equilibrium modeling demonstrates economic efficiency benefits of pollution taxes with revenue “recycling” to reduce marginal rates of pre-existing distortionary taxes.
- Clean Energy And Jobs: A comprehensive approach to climate change and energy policy (James P. Barrett & J. Andrew Hoerner, Economic Policy Institute, 2002).
- A Proposal for a U.S. Carbon Tax Swap (Gilbert Metcalf, Brookings, 2007).
- Caps vs Taxes (Ken Greene, Steven Hayward, Kevin Hassett, AEI, 2007).
- U.S. Federal Climate Policy and Competitiveness Concerns: The Limits and Options of International Trade Law, Joost Pauwelyn, Duke U., 2007). WTO rules permit “border tax adjustments” (import tariffs) to harmonize domestic carbon taxation.
- Smart Taxes: An Open Invitation to Join the Pigou Club (Greg Mankiw, Harvard, 2008).
- Policy Options for Reducing CO2 Emissions (Congressional Budget Office, 2008). “[T]he net benefits (benefits minus costs) of a [carbon] tax could be roughly five times greater than the net benefits of an inflexible cap.”
- CBO Director’s Blog on Carbon Tax vis-a-vis Cap and Trade (2008 Essay by Congressional Budget Office climate specialists Peter R. Orszag and Terry M. Dinan, critiquing noted academic Cass R. Sunstein’s article “Of Montreal and Kyoto: A Tale of Two Protocols”).
- CO2 Price Volatility: Consequences and Cures (Brattle Group, January 2009).
- Some Basic Economics of Extreme Climate Change (Weitzman, Harvard, 2009).
- Addressing Climate Change Without Impairing the US Economy (Robert Shapiro, US Climate Task Force, 2009).
- On The Merits of A Carbon Tax (Ted Gayer, Brookings, Testimony to Senate Env’t & Nat’l Res. Committee, 2009).
- The Design of a Carbon Tax (Gilbert Metcalf & David Weisbach, Harvard Envt’l Law Rev, 2009).
- Carbon taxation - a forgotten climate policy tool? (Global Utmaning [Sweden], 2009)
- How Climate Policy Could Address Fiscal Shortfalls (Adele Morris & Ted Gayer, Brookings, 2010).
- A Balanced Plan to Stabilize Public Debt and Promote Economic Growth (William Galston, Brookings & Maya MacGuineas, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, 2010). Recommendations include a broad-based carbon tax with proceeds to reduce payroll taxes and for deficit reduction.
- Moving U.S. Climate Policy Forward: Are Carbon Taxes the Only Good Alternative? (Ian Parry & Roberton Williams, Resources for the Future, 2011).
- Revising the Social Cost of Carbon, (Frank Ackerman & Elizabeth Stanton, E3 Network, 2011).
- Carbon Taxes, An Opportunity for Conservatives (Irwin Stelzer, Hudson Institute, 2011).
- Fiscal Solutions: A Balanced Plan for Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth, Peterson Foundation & American Enterprise Institute, 2011). As part of comprehensive reform, recommends replacing ethanol subsidies and greenhouse gas regulations with a $26/tonne CO2 (and CO2-eq) tax, rising 5.6% annually. (p 25.)
- The Potential Role of a Carbon Tax in U.S. Fiscal Reform (Brookings, 2012)
- Offsetting a Carbon Tax’s Costs on Low-Income Households (CBO, 2012)
- Considering a U.S. Carbon Tax: Frequently Asked Questions (Resources for the Future, 2012)
- Carbon Tax Revenue and the Budget Deficit: A Win-Win-Win Solution? (MIT, August 2012)
Noteworthy Blogs and Webpages
- Grist Covers US & World eco developments with verve and a nose for news.
- Streetsblog NYC-based transport-focused blog, covers road pricing, bicycling, urban renaissance for policy wonks and activists alike.
- Climate Progress Timely, topical site run by climate policy expert (and former Clinton-era acting assistant secretary of energy for energy efficiency and renewable energy) Joe Romm.
- William Nordhaus home page Links to papers and economic models of the world’s leading carbon-energy-economy modeler
- Robert Shapiro’s blog (Former Clinton Economist)
- Rob Stavins’ blog (cap/trade advocate)
- Greg Mankiw’s blog (Romney adviser, founder of the Pigou Club)
- George Monbiot’s blog (author of “Heat” and Guardian (UK) columnist)
- David Suzuki’s blog
- Sightline Daily (NW Environmental News & Views)
- Global Policy Forum Web page links to useful papers and articles on carbon and fuel taxes from 1997 to present.
- Holistic Politics A Conservative Case for a Carbon Tax and Various Calculations
- Earth Policy Institute (Planning a Sustainable Future)
- Dr James Hansen’s blog (Climate scientist)
- Weathervane (Resources for the Future)
- Yale 360 (Environmental Reporting, Analysis & Debate)
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