Climate Bills and a Green Economy

Government-Funded U.S. Scientists Urge Action on Cap-and-Trade Legislation That Will Destroy America

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May 20, 2010

America.gov - The National Academy of Sciences — the United States’ leading body of scientists — doesn’t typically jump into policy debates. However, it has strayed from its normal role as a science adviser to the government and urged the United States to implement “prompt and sustained strategies” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

One of its three reports, titled America’s Climate Choices and published by the academy’s National Research Council, also focused on the need to implement a “multiparty, public-private national framework” to help the country cope with inevitable climate change. Congress requested the reports in 2008, giving the scientists a broad mandate to analyze what’s known about climate change, what causes it and how the nation should respond to it.

“Together these reports demonstrate that the state of climate change science is strong,” Ralph Cicerone, the academy’s president, said at a May 19 press conference. “They also underline the fact that the scientific community needs to continue to expand upon its understanding of why climate change is happening, and to focus on when and where the most severe impacts will occur — and what we can all do to respond.”

An economy-wide pricing system for carbon should play a key part in a future policy to reduce emissions, the academy concluded, noting that such a mechanism could consist of a carbon tax or a so-called cap-and-trade system, or a combination of both. By putting a price on carbon dioxide emissions, the government would create economic incentives for industry and other polluters to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide they emit. Two bills pending in the U.S. Congress are proposing such plans.

Under the cap-and-trade system, the government issues pollution allowances that companies can sell for a profit on the open market if they reduce their emissions and no longer need them. Companies that don’t reduce their emissions would buy the extra allowances and incur higher costs as a result.

Government revenues from carbon tax receipts or carbon allowance sales should be channeled back into energy research and development, energy-efficiency programs, climate change adaptation programs, or assistance for low-income households struggling with higher energy prices, the academy wrote. Concern over higher energy prices resulting from carbon pricing is one of the challenges Congress faces as it considers climate change legislation.

The chairman of one of the academy reports, Robert Fri, said a multipronged strategy that includes carbon pricing is critical if the United States is to meet needed greenhouse gas reduction goals. The academy proposed a domestic carbon emissions “budget” of 170 billion to 200 billion tons of carbon dioxide–equivalent greenhouse gases that could be emitted between 2012 and 2050. That would represent an emissions reduction of between 50 percent and 80 percent compared with 1990 levels, and corresponds with targets set by the Obama administration and proposed by members of Congress.

“Meeting that budget is a very challenging task,” Fri said. Even if all existing and emerging technologies to create renewable energy and capture and store carbon emissions were deployed to their fullest technical potential, he said, “it’s clear that we’re still going to need additional emission reduction efforts.”

The academy also proposed that the U.S. government do these things:

• Retrofit, replace or retire emission-intensive structures, such as coal-fired power stations.


• Address and remove barriers to full-scale testing and commercialization of new-generation nuclear power plants.


• Accelerate the build-out of low-carbon renewable energy sources such as nuclear and biomass plants, and wind, hydro, geothermal and solar power.


• Develop energy plants capable of capturing and storing carbon emissions.


• Push for the construction of compact, mixed-use urban neighborhoods that require less car travel.


• Develop new options for mass transportation and strengthen existing systems.

Also in the reports was the academy’s vision of how the United States should prepare and adjust to changes that will come with new and unavoidable climate patterns.

Noting that adaptation strategies will vary depending on local conditions and geography, the researchers proposed a national, federally run adaptation program that would coordinate local and regional efforts and link programs across the nation. The government should also play a major role in international adaptation activities and support global adaptation programs, the scientists wrote.

“The academy studies are up-to-date and well documented in their science, clear in their exposition, and compelling in their conclusions about policy,” said John Holdren, science adviser to President Obama and the White House. “I very much hope that every member of Congress and every other federal official with responsibilities in the energy-climate domain will read at least the concise summaries — 36 pages in all — at the beginning of each volume.”