Transcript Advanced Cap and Trade - Northern Arizona University

• To achieve this goal, the U.S. government should steadily tighten
the cap until emissions are reduced to 80 percent below 1990
levels by 2050. Businesses would have to obtain permits
entitling them to emit a certain quantity of carbon dioxide or its
equivalent in other greenhouse gases. All permits would be
auctioned off by the government. Emissions permits in the near
term would likely fall in the range of $10 to $15 per metric ton
of carbon dioxide or its equivalent.
• 2008 data
• For the first time in years, President Obama made climate
change a major focus in his State of the Union address,
continuing a gradual pivot back to environmental issues that
appeared to begin around the time of Hurricane Sandy. He
didn't just say, "We must do more to combat climate change"—
he made actual proposals, including a "race to the top" for
state-level energy efficiency initiatives and an energy security
trust.
• “The scope of the problem,” says Nicholas Bianco of the World
Resource Institute, who has studied the U.S. executive’s power
over emissions, “is too enormous not to have Congress taking an
active role. The science is quite clear that we cannot delay.”
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What externalities have been internalized?
Name of Law?
Air Quality/ Clean Air Act
Visibility/ Regional Haze Rule
Noise Pollution/ Grand Canyon Overflights
Water Pollution/ Clean Water Act
Extinction/ Endangered Species Act
Fires/ Building Codes
Smell/ Zoning
• For the past decade, ten states stretching from Maine to
Maryland have been experimenting with their own modest cap
on carbon pollution from electric power plants. And, this week,
the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) announced that
it would continue to cut emissions by tightening the cap between
now and 2020.
• The top-line news is encouraging: Carbon-dioxide emissions
from power plants in the Northeast have fallen very sharply
since the plan was first devised — from 188 million tons of
carbon-dioxide in 2005 to 91 million tons in 2012
• Recession
• As a result, permits to emit carbon-dioxide are extremely
plentiful and cheap, costing just $1.93 per ton of carbon. If
you’re an electric utility, there’s little incentive to invest in
efficiency or renewable power to avoid the cost of buying up
pollution permits.
• $50/ton by 2030
• The program has also been quite lucrative for the states
involved, which have raised about $912 million since 2009 from
auctioning off pollution permits. States have used that money in
different ways. Many have set up programs to improve energy
efficiency.
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Social Responsibility
Triple Bottom Line
International
https://www.theice.com/ccx.jhtml
Collapse of Chicago Climate Exchange Means a Strategy Shift on
Global Warming Curbs 11/9/10
• http://carbontradexchange.com/
• http://www.tccxchange.com/
• http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/capandtrade/capandtrade.htm
• http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/capandtrade/auction/auction.htm
• What’s new
• http://www.indeed.com/q-Carbon-Trading-jobs.html
• Initial estimates by the Congressional Budget Office project that
an economy-wide cap-and-trade program would generate at
least $50 billion per year, but could reach up to $300 billion.
Approximately 10 percent of this revenue should be allocated
to help offset costs to businesses and shareholders of affected
industries.
• Of the remaining revenue, approximately half should be
devoted to help offset any energy price increases for low- and
middle-income Americans that may occur as a result of the
transition to more efficient energy sources. The other half of the
remaining revenue should be used to invest in renewable
energy, efficiency, low-carbon transportation technologies,
green-collar job training, and the transition to a low-carbon
economy.
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/19/california-capand-trade_n_2161874.html
• 11/19/12
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http://www.3degreesinc.com/products/recs
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/res/overviewtrading.html
http://www.greenenergytrading.com.au/
Dec 2012/Jan 2013 - Carbon Trading Magazine, www.carbontradingmagazine.com/.../Carbon-Trading-Dec-20...