Federal climate policy

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Federal climate policy your leverage on it

• Paul Higgins
• Senior Policy Fellow, The American Meteorological
  Society
• Contributor, www.ClimatePolicy.org
• phiggins_at_ametsoc.org

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Societys options
Wait and see () no wasted effort (-)
maximizes suffering
Mitigate () reduces risk (-) may waste
resources (-) some impacts unavoidable
Adapt () better handling of risks (-)
some impacts too severe
Geo-engineer () potential desperation
strategy (-) may trigger big side-effects (-)
some impacts unavoidable
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Source John Larsen, World Resources Institute
Visit http//thomas.gov for submitted bills
analysis
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Cap Trade design issues

• Targets and timetable
• Allocation of allowances use of revenue
• Auction permits or give them away
• Scope
• Economy-wide or sector-limited (e.g.,
  electricity)
• Point of regulation
• Upstream (coal mine, refiners)
• Downstream (tail pipes, homes, businesses)
• Cost containment
• Price safety valve
• Borrowing banking
• International incentives
• Border tax adjustments
• Conditional actions

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Mitigation four comparable frameworks for
pricing carbon

• Cap trade (CT)
• Set targets timetable (80 reduction by 2050)
• Carbon fee (FEE)
• Estimate fee schedule needed to reach targets
  timetable (45/ton in 2020 rising to 350 in
  2050)
• Price safety valve (PSV)
• Same targets timetable but w/ a price safety
  valve equal to the FEE schedule
• Climate safety valve (CSV)
• Same fee schedule as FEE but it increases 20 if
  the targets and timetable are missed

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Mitigation comparing frameworks

• Frameworks can be compared based on how
  effectively they influence
• The quantity of emissions
• The price of emitting
• Relative effectiveness of the frameworks depends
  on how easy (cheap) or hard (expensive) it is to
  reduce emissions

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How about bills to enhance coping avoiding the
worst impacts?

• Adaptation
• Create an climate adaptation council within the
  office of the President (similar to the National
  Security council) that would assess current and
  future climate vulnerabilities and recommend
  strategies for improving our ability to cope
• Geo-engineering
• Establish a geo-engineering research program
  along with protective mechanisms to prevent and
  discourage the hasty deployment of
  geo-engineering solutions (e.g., criminal
  penalties and trade sanctions)

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APP AMS Policy Program

• Our Goals
• Prepare scientists to contribute effectively to
  the policy process
• Keep policymakers abreast of scientific advances
  and their relevance
• Foster meaningful collaborations between
  scientists and policymakers
• Develop the needed policy research
• Share our vision and results

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Opportunities for civic engagement

• Outreach to the public
• Op-eds, letters to the editor, contributions to
  blogs/web commentary
• Speak to local groups (Lions clubs, Rotarians,
  etc.)
• Outreach to Congress
• AAAS Mass Media Fellowship
• http//www.aaas.org/programs/education/MassMedia/
  index.shtml
• AMS Summer Policy Colloquium Leadership
  Development Program
• http//www.ametsoc.org/spc
• AAAS Science Technology Policy Fellowships
  (sponsored by AAAS, AMS-UCAR, AGU, GSA, AGI, AIP,
  and others)
• http//fellowships.aaas.org
• http//www.ametsoc.org/csf