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Proposed Carbon Pricing Schemes (US)

MCLI Recommendation: “Congress should consider adopting a carbon tax that begins at $25 per metric ton, increases over time based on rising damage from climate change, and the revenues from which are spent for some combination of economic efficiency, income redistribution, and climate policy purposes.”

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23 resources

Resource States and State Governments

Carbon Costs Coalition

The Carbon Costs Coalition is a group of state legislators from 12 states devoted to accurately accounting for the cost of carbon pollution. Their efforts aim to strengthen the regional momentum and a...
Resource Public Utilities

Report, Independent System Operators (ISOs) & Carbon Pricing: An Explainer

This 2020 report from Climate Xchange surveys the policy options for carbon pricing at the Independent System Operator (ISO) level. ISOs coordinate real-time electricity flow, ensure fair competition,...
Resource Executive Branch

FERC Technical Conference regarding Carbon Pricing in Organized Wholesale Electricity Markets (Sept. 2020)

At a September 2020 FERC Technical Conference, legal experts agreed that FERC does have the legal authority to implement a carbon price. Under sections 206 and 205 of the Federal Power Act, FERC has t...
Resource States and State Governments

New Mexico Climate Change Task Force

Through Executive Order 2019-003, New Mexico established a Climate Change Task Force to evaluate strategies and policies to reduce GHG emissions, including the adoption of a comprehensive market-based...
Resource Congress

Proposed carbon pricing bills in US Congress

A variety of carbon pricing bills circulated through the US Congress in 2019 and 2020. They are linked and summarized here. The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2019 (HR 763) places a pric...
Resource Executive Branch

IWG Social Cost of Carbon

The Interagency Working Group Social Cost of Carbon’s 2013 update gave four updated SCC estimates for 2020 at $12, $43, $64, and $128 (2007$) based on different integrated assessment models.
Resource Executive Branch

Berkeley report, Addressing Climate Change Without Legislation

UC Berkeley School of Law’s publication, Addressing Climate Change Without Legislation, proposes that through FERC’s authority over electricity rates, power contracts, and utility planning, as well as...
Example Public Utilities

PJM carbon pricing study

PJM, an independent system operator in the mid-Atlantic states, has proposed to study the effects of a carbon price on wholesale markets in tandem with the carbon pricing discussion being advanced by ...
Resource States and State Governments

Oregon’s defeated cap and trade bill

Oregon’s House Bill 2020 proposed a statewide cap-and-trade program starting in 2021, with a declining allowance budget leading to a 45% reduction in GHG emissions below 1990 levels by 2035. From 2036...
Resource States and State Governments

Massachusetts’ proposed H2810

Massachusetts’ proposed H2810 puts a price on carbon pollution and invests 30% of all revenue ($400–600 million per year) in local clean transportation, resiliency, and renewable energy projects. A Cl...
Resource States and State Governments

Virginia proposed RGGI regulation

Pursuant to Executive Directive 11 (2017), a proposed ‘Regulation for Emissions Trading’ was prepared by the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and approved by the Virginia State Air Po...
Resource States and State Governments

Transportation and Climate Initiative

The Transportation and Climate Initiative is a collaboration of the transportation, energy and environment agencies from 12 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states and Washington, DC, focused on reducing gr...
Resource Local Governments

Portland’s Proposed Carbon Tax

In November 2020, Portland proposed a Healthy Climate Fee, which would establish a $25 per-ton fee on GHG emissions from facilities in Portland with emissions of 2,500 metric tons of CO2-e (carbon dio...
Resource Congress

RFF Carbon Pricing Bill Tracker

Resources for the Future has launched a Carbon Pricing Bill Tracker comparing all of the carbon pricing bills introduced in the 116th Congress to see where there is and is not agreement on the array o...
Example Congress

Proposed Foreign Pollution Fee Act

Introduced in November, 2023, the proposed Foreign Pollution Fee Act marks a rare Republican proposal to price carbon pollution — from foreign imports. The new bill would impose a fee on certain indus...
Resource Executive Branch

Report: Markets, Externalities, and the Federal Power Act

NYU’s Environmental Law Journal published a 2019 article on FERC’s authority to price carbon dioxide emissions.
Resource Executive Branch

Report, The Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases: An Overview

In December 2023, EPA finalized updated values for the social cost of greenhouse gases (SC-GHG), following public comment and expert peer review. The agency derived these estimates using the best avai...
Example States and State Governments

Massachusetts’ Proposed S. 2477 (2020)

Massachusetts’ proposed S. 2477 (2020) creates a carbon price that leaves program design to future gubernatorial administrations to decide. They would be free to choose among a variety of market-based...
Resource Executive Branch

EIA carbon tax modeling

The Energy Information Administration, in its Annual Energy Outlook 2014 report, modeled a carbon price of $25 per metric ton, increasing 5% per year. The model showed a very small change in retail en...
Resource Executive Branch

Report, A Path Forward for FERC

The Institute for Policy Integrity’s 2020 report, A Path Forward for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, advises that FERC should take an active role in better aligning regulatory practices with...
Resource Congress

Proposed Bipartisan Climate Roadmap

Proposed Roadmap supported by prominent corporations and NGOs calls for a rising carbon fee, carbon dividends for all Americans, deregulation in certain cases, and a border carbon adjustment.
Resource States and State Governments

Washington’s defeated Initiative 1631

Washington’s ballot initiative 1631 was defeated in 2018 by a margin of 57% to 43%. It would have enacted a carbon emissions fee of $15 per metric ton of carbon beginning on January 1, 2020, and incre...
Example Public Utilities

NYISO carbon pricing proposal

The New York Independent System Operator has released a Carbon Pricing Straw Proposal, which would reflect the cost of carbon emissions in wholesale energy market offers via a “carbon charge.” The Pro...