Hello! Welcome to the launch of Pricing Nature, a new podcast from Yale Center for Business and the Environment and the Yale Carbon Charge. Our podcast tells the story behind carbon pricing, which many argue should play a critical role in any national climate policy. We feature conversations with carbon pricing experts from government, academia, and civil society. We’ll bring you a new chapter every other week on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you listen to podcasts.
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Casey, Jacob, Maria and Naomi
[Cover Photo by Marcin Jozwiak on Unsplash]
In this first episode, we break down the basics of pricing carbon dioxide, and other harmful greenhouse gases. We're joined by Susanne Brooks, Senior Director of U.S. Climate Policy & Analysis at EDF, to talk about how to design good carbon pricing policies.
Notable quotes:
On carbon tax vs. cap-and-trade:
Susanne Brooks: I think the economists have debated cap-and-trade and taxes for decades. What are the pros and cons of each of those different policies, but the differences between them, and the distinctions between them are actually not as big as they may seem. They share really important elements and most of the existing programs in the world are actually hybrids that have qualities of both cap and trade and taxes.
Who should be affected by a carbon price?
Susanne Brooks: It’s really important to cover as many sources of pollution as possible, in a carbon pricing program. That’s first because, one, you simply want to be reducing as much pollution as you can so you want to be covering as many sources as you can. But also, because broader coverage is going to help keep your costs low. Covering multiple sectors of the economy is going to allow you to find the cheapest reductions.
How do we implement a carbon price?
Susanne Brooks: Placing the program, or the point of regulation, as far upstream as possible is going to be the most efficient and effective means of implementing the program. It allows you to make sure that you are covering all of the possible uses of those fuels and it allows that price to trickle down through the economy. So it covers the biggest swath of emissions and pollution sources and also makes sure that throughout the entire supply chain that investments are oriented towards low and zero carbon options.
To get your head around the basics of carbon pricing, check out the following sources:
Cap and Trade vs. Taxes, from the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
Carbon Pricing 101, from Resources for the Future
Why price carbon? From Climate XChange