Last week, environmental regulators from 14 states sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency asking for guidance on how to how to implement the carbon emissions reduction goals outlined in the Clean Power Plan. The letter indicates states’ willingness to enact voluntary measures, despite the Supreme Court’s stay order.
In recent work, RFF’s Karen Palmer and Anthony Paul offer important considerations and effective, proven approaches for tailoring individual compliance plans to states’ needs. They examine three forms of incentive-based, comprehensive policies: a mass-based policy, a tradable performance standard, and a clean energy standard. They note: “Among the three policy options, a mass-based approach has many virtues, including ease of measuring compliance and simplicity in administration. It also may be easier for states that want to work together to implement a joint mass-based policy than it is to combine multiple rate-based approaches.”
RFF on the Issues connects today’s pressing news with related research and expertise at RFF.
