USING A CARBON TAX TO MEET US INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE PLEDGES

Yunguang Chen and Marc Hafstead
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Yunguang Chen: Resources for the Future, 1616 P St NW, Washington DC, 20036, USA

Climate Change Economics (CCE), 2019, vol. 10, issue 01, 1-19

Abstract: The United States is currently on pace to fall well short of its promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26–28%, relative to 2005, by 2025, under the UN Framework and Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement, even if President Trump did not eliminate most Obama-era climate regulations. However, there still exists interest in reducing emissions, especially from some members of Congress, and there are a number of federal policy options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions if Congress (or a new administration in 2021) so chooses. In this paper, we show that a federal economy-wide carbon tax on US carbon dioxide emissions could significantly contribute to the reductions necessary to fulfill the US international climate commitments. Using a detailed multi-sector computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, we predict the carbon price paths that would be necessary to meet the 28% emissions target and show the economic costs of such carbon-pricing policies. We then demonstrate how both the price paths and associated costs change if action is delayed.

Keywords: Carbon tax; climate; emissions targets; computable general equilibrium model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Working Paper: Using a Carbon Tax to Meet US International Climate Pledges (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wsi:ccexxx:v:10:y:2019:i:01:n:s2010007819500027

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DOI: 10.1142/S2010007819500027

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