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February 1, 2012
As the urgency for climate change action increases, governments around the world seek answers to this global challenge. A multitude of climate policy approaches now exist around the world, ranging from global to local scale. These include:
These varying—and sometimes overlapping—policies often spur debate on how best to implement effective climate change policy given the wide range of policy intervention points, the piecemeal nature of local efforts, and the global scale of the problem.
A recent report written by scholars at Resources for the Future and the University of Virginia, entitled Rethinking Environmental Federalism in a Warming World , focuses on the formation of climate change policy in a federal system. The paper examined the challenges and opportunities that arise when implementing climate change policy under U.S. federalism. Federalism refers to the exercise of powers, responsibilities, and constraints between different layers of government. In the United States, the main organizational differences are between national, state, and local (county and municipal) layers. Below are the main points of the paper.
The authors of the report noted that the current federalist approach to GHG regulation, through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), presents a flexible compliance path toward emissions reduction. Though challenges to effective and efficient progress remain.
Conclusion
While Congress has stalled in passing comprehensive climate change legislation, many states and localities have taken their own steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, the authors emphasize that national standards are essential for ensuring efficient, cost-effective climate policy. With hopes that national climate legislation will be passed in the near future, the authors remind us that effective national legislation must be accompanied by subnational autonomy and innovation. States will play critical roles in implementing climate strategies within their own jurisdictions, as well as finding innovative approaches to meeting national standards. Furthermore, in the future passage of any national legislation, it would be important to recognize the actions that states and localities have taken prior to enactment of national legislation, and to assist these states in adapting to a national plan as appropriate.
It has been common currency that there needs to be a price put on carbon. An example of a mechanism to do this is a carbon fee or carbon tax. In 2009, Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the Carbon Limits and Energy for America’s Renewal (CLEAR) Act, a cap-and-dividend bill that would place a declining cap on fossil fuel emissions and put a price on carbon through the sale of carbon permits to fossil fuel producers.
To learn more, see past EESI briefing overviews on carbon pricing: