US Federal

To meet the climate challenge, the United States needs a comprehensive national approach. Well-designed federal policy can cut emissions and strengthen resilience while driving economic growth.

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Events Leading to Regulation of Greenhouse Gases under the Clean Air Act

Supreme Court Ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA: Recent activity at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse gases began in earnest following the US Supreme Court ruling in Mass. v. EPA in 2007. This case found that carbon dioxide …

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Comparison of the CEJAP Act and the CLEAR Act

This brief compares key elements of two bills currently under consideration in Congress.  The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (CEJAP Act) on November 5, 2009. It provides a comprehensive, economy-wide …

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Article
Carbon Market Oversight and Regulation

This article originally appeared in Point Carbon News.   At the heart of any successful cap-and-trade program is a well-functioning market for the trading of emissions allowances.  At the same time, the recent high-profile market scandals and crises have led …

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Summary of the Carbon Limits and Energy for America’s Renewal (CLEAR) Act (S.2877)

On December 11, 2009, Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the Carbon Limits and Energy for America’s Renewal (CLEAR) Act (S..2877 of the 111th Congress). This bill would puts limits on carbon emissions. It auctions all of the allowances …

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Carbon Market Design and Oversight: A Short Overview

At the heart of any successful cap-and-trade program is a well-functioning market for the trading of emissions allowances. The sulfur dioxide allowance market created under 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments to control acid rain is an example of such a …

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Assessing Offset Quality in the Clean Development Mechanism

The Offset Quality Initiative (OQI) responds to the intensifying debate over international offsets by releasing a policy paper assessing offset quality in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). In the paper, titled “Assessing Offset Quality in the Clean Development Mechanism,” OQI …

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Waxman-Markey Short Summary

On June 26, 2009, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES Act) was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 219 to 212. The bill contains five distinct titles: I) clean energy, II) energy efficiency, …

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Cost of ACES Act Found to be Small According to Government Analyses

Economic analysis by its nature is better suited to providing insights and not absolute predictions of the future and when these insights are confirmed by more than one analysis, the results are typically considered more credible.  With this in mind, …

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Myths about the Waxman-Markey Clean Energy Bill

No bill is perfect.  Certainly not one that contains a thousand pages and seeks to overhaul the way our nation uses energy.  But many of the recent attacks on the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) proposed by Representatives …

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Article
Carbonfirst USA: Climate policy and market insights

Eileen Claussen responds to questions about domestic and international climate policy in the US-focused June edition of CARBONfirst.   Do you believe a US cap-and-trade bill can be passed out of Congress in 2009? What chance does the bill have …

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