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Cap-and-trade is still alive in New England. Is it working?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/09/cap-and-trade-is-still-alive-in-new-england-is-it-working/[font face=Serif][font size=5]Cap-and-trade is still alive in New England. Is it working?[/font]
Posted by Brad Plumer on February 9, 2013 at 10:30 am
[font size=3]Remember cap-and-trade? Back in 2010, Democrats in Congress had a proposal to set a nationwide limit on U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions and let businesses trade pollution permits. But the climate bill died, and cap-and-trade mostly vanished from discussion.
Except in the Northeast. 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.
So how effective has the RGGI program been? It depends on how you look at things. 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.*
Yet a good chunk of that drop was driven by the recession, which bit into electricity demand, as well as by the fact that power plants across the country have been swapping out coal for cheaper natural gas, which reduces carbon emissions. In fact, power-plant emissions in the Northeast have been falling much, much faster than the cap requires: Emissions are currently 45 percent below the RGGI cap of 165 million tons for 2013.
…[/font][/font]
Posted by Brad Plumer on February 9, 2013 at 10:30 am
[font size=3]Remember cap-and-trade? Back in 2010, Democrats in Congress had a proposal to set a nationwide limit on U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions and let businesses trade pollution permits. But the climate bill died, and cap-and-trade mostly vanished from discussion.
Except in the Northeast. 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.
So how effective has the RGGI program been? It depends on how you look at things. 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.*
Yet a good chunk of that drop was driven by the recession, which bit into electricity demand, as well as by the fact that power plants across the country have been swapping out coal for cheaper natural gas, which reduces carbon emissions. In fact, power-plant emissions in the Northeast have been falling much, much faster than the cap requires: Emissions are currently 45 percent below the RGGI cap of 165 million tons for 2013.
…[/font][/font]
