Climate Law Blog

Guest blog by Andrew Ratzkin* The time for a carbon tax is now.  The coronavirus hasn’t just created the opportunity; it’s created the imperative. The Imperative.  State budgets are in crisis.  Revenues—whether derived from sales taxes, individual and corporate income taxes, capital gains, dividends, tolls, airport fees, mass transit fares, hotel stays, casinos, real estate transactions, […]

by Romany Webb and Justin Gundlach There has been much talk in recent weeks about pricing carbon to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Earlier this month, a group of former Republican cabinet members proposed adoption of a nationwide carbon price, starting at $40 per ton. That seems unlikely, however. Even the proposal’s main architect, former Secretary […]

By Michael Greenberg, Sabin Center Summer Intern Pope Francis’ June 18 encyclical Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home includes a section about the economics of carbon mitigation. Although a small part of the encyclical—one paragraph out of 246—the pope’s economic prescription received extensive coverage from top newspapers such as the Washington Post and […]

Dane Warren Sabin Center Summer Intern & Rising 2L at Columbia Law School On Wednesday, June 10, two Democratic Senators (Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Brian Schatz of Hawaii) introduced a bill that would impose a carbon tax of $45 per ton of carbon emissions. For other greenhouse gases, the bill imposes a carbon dioxide […]

By Allie Bollman, Summer Intern On June 13th, the Center for American Progress (CAP) issued a report titled, “300 Million Engines of Growth- A Middle-Out Plan for Jobs, Businesses, and a Growing Economy.” The report lays out a plan for economic progress, including investment and reform, and focuses on the necessity and importance of the […]

By Ifeoma Anunkor, Summer Legal Intern Carbon pollution harms the economy much more than the federal government previously estimated, according to the Interagency Working Group on Social Cost of Carbon. While researchers continue to look for ways to reduce carbon emissions without harming the economy, the new guidance on the social cost of carbon strengthens […]