In Focus: Reducing Emissions and Lowering Energy Costs

As many states, including New York and Pennsylvania, are looking to reign in their climate commitments to help bring down costs, Virginia is taking another route. Earlier this year, the state re-entered the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), an interstate cap-and-trade program that puts a price on carbon dioxide emissions from electric power plants. While traditionally, such a carbon pricing program would raise electricity costs, Virginia is taking the revenue they earn and giving it back to households in the form of rebates on their electricity bills. In this In Focus video, Resources for the Future (RFF) Fellow Brian Prest draws on recent RFF research to explain how Virginia is both reducing its carbon dioxide emissions and lowering electricity bills at the same time.