New Report: Implementing U.S. Climate Policy Depends on Five Political Precedents

Former Gore advisor maps out best path to passing global warming legislation in current political landscape

SAN FRANCISCO, June 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, former domestic policy advisor to Vice President Al Gore and U.S. Climate Task Force (CTF) co-founder Dr. Elaine C. Kamarck unveiled a new report that examines lessons learned from past efforts to legislate on climate change and how those precedents can be applied to help pass an emissions policy in the 111th Congress. According to her expert analysis, these lessons fall into five categories:

1. Cost - Extent of economic impact on U.S. families
2. Complexity - Scale of system; opportunity for evasion, manipulation and corruption
3. Fairness - Distribution of costs and benefits through all segments of society
4. Compatibility - Ease of integration of U.S. policy with international efforts
5. Effectiveness - Ability to efficiently curb emissions and mitigate climate change

Dr. Kamarck elaborated on these points, explaining: "More than 30 years have passed since scientists introduced the notion of global warming into the American political dialogue. And now -- with Congress considering a federal emissions bill and the White House preparing to negotiate a new U.N. agreement on climate change -- the debate over policies to mitigate domestic greenhouse gas emissions has reached an entirely new level of importance.

"Many legislators are pushing for a U.S. cap-and-trade system. Though I share their strong resolve to address the risks of climate change, evidence shows that the problems implementing carbon trading measures are so complex that they may not allow Americans to meet our 'green' goals.

"The bottom line is we need to put a price on carbon. Using lessons learned from our past efforts to legislate on climate change, my new paper demonstrates how a carbon tax-shift would accomplish that goal. In addition to rebating its revenues back to the people in ways that shift the burden of taxation from employment to pollution, a carbon tax has the advantage of being simple, transparent and easy to administer."

Click here to read a full copy of "Addressing Climate Change: The Politics of the Policy Options."

To request more information or to schedule an interview with a CTF expert, please contact Trice Whitefield at twhitefield@climatetaskforce.org or (202) 579-1103.