{"id":2558,"date":"2010-07-20T08:32:06","date_gmt":"2010-07-20T13:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/?p=2558"},"modified":"2010-07-19T22:35:03","modified_gmt":"2010-07-20T03:35:03","slug":"the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2010\/07\/20\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\/","title":{"rendered":"The Evidence Continues to Pile Up: Climate Legislation is Affordable. The Time to Cap Carbon is Now."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the debate on climate legislation gears up in the Senate, evidence continues to accumulate that a climate bill will be affordable and provide a much-needed boost to our economy.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.eia.gov\/oiaf\/servicerpt\/kgl\/index.html\">A new analysis<\/a> released by the Department of Energy\u2019s Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the comprehensive climate and energy legislation introduced by Senators Kerry and Lieberman (the American Power Act or APA), confirmed that under the bill, the American economy would continue to grow robustly, and the cost to households would be minimal.\u00a0 Here are the facts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Under climate policy, U.S.      GDP would grow by a third over the period 2008-2020, and would nearly      double by 2035. A \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d scenario with no climate policy would      add only a tiny fraction to output \u2014 just two-tenths of a percent (0.2%) in      total over the next two decades.\u00a0 To      put this in perspective, GDP is projected to reach $27.8 trillion by New      Year\u2019s Day 2035 under business as usual; under climate policy, it will get      there by the middle of February.<\/li>\n<li>Under climate policy, U.S.      employment is projected to <strong>grow<\/strong> 8% by 2020 and 22% by 2035, relative to 2008.<\/li>\n<li>The estimated cost to the      average American household is $167 in the year 2020 (in 2009 dollars) \u2013 less      than six dollars a month per person.\u00a0      (The EIA also reports an annualized figure of $206 over the entire      period.)<\/li>\n<li>Estimated electricity      prices would be only 4% higher in 2020 under the policy than they would be      without it.<\/li>\n<li>Allowance prices in 2020      and 2030 are even lower than EIA projected under the House-passed climate      legislation (HR2454).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The EIA\u2019s analysis also points out that the vast majority of reductions would come from the electric power sector.\u00a0 That\u2019s relevant to current debates, as the Senate is currently considering a scaled-down version of the cap included in APA that would only cover the power sector.\u00a0 Under such a policy, allowance prices would be lower \u2014 making household costs and other economic impacts even smaller.<\/p>\n<p>All of EIA\u2019s projections are consistent with an array of estimates from the most credible analyses available, in particular, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/climatechange\/economics\/economicanalyses.html\">Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)<\/a> and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbo.gov\/publications\/collections\/collections.cfm?collect=9\">Congressional Budget Office (CBO)<\/a>.\u00a0 EPA\u2019s estimates for the cost to the average American household are comparable to EIA\u2019s (amounting to just a few dollars a month for the average individual American).\u00a0 And just last week, CBO reported that APA would reduce future deficits by approximately $19 billion over the next decade.\u00a0 It also estimated even lower allowance prices under APA than under HR2454, which CBO also projected would cost the average American just a few dollars a month by the year 2020.<\/p>\n<p>That is a small investment in a clean energy economy that will create jobs, reduce pollution and increase America\u2019s energy security.\u00a0 And it\u2019s always important to remember that all of these analyses only look at one side of the ledger \u2013 they do not take into account the huge costs of inaction on climate change.<\/p>\n<p>Studies like those from EIA, EPA, and CBO confirm that we can readily afford a comprehensive climate and energy bill that would boost our economy, reduce our dependence on imported oil and help avert dangerous climate change. \u00a0There is no more time to waste \u2013 the Senate needs to pass a cap on carbon now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the debate on climate legislation gears up in the Senate, evidence continues to accumulate that a climate bill will be affordable and provide a much-needed boost to our economy. A new analysis released by the Department of Energy\u2019s Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the comprehensive climate and energy legislation introduced by Senators Kerry and &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[108,43,20,44],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-2558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-change-legislation","category-economics","category-news","category-policy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Evidence Continues to Pile Up: Climate Legislation is Affordable. The Time to Cap Carbon is Now. - Climate 411<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2010\/07\/20\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Evidence Continues to Pile Up: Climate Legislation is Affordable. The Time to Cap Carbon is Now. - Climate 411\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the debate on climate legislation gears up in the Senate, evidence continues to accumulate that a climate bill will be affordable and provide a much-needed boost to our economy. A new analysis released by the Department of Energy\u2019s Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the comprehensive climate and energy legislation introduced by Senators Kerry and ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2010\/07\/20\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate 411\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-07-20T13:32:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nat Keohane\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nat Keohane\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/20\\\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/20\\\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nat Keohane\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/87d04a89b1b46574862bb536773d11ca\"},\"headline\":\"The Evidence Continues to Pile Up: Climate Legislation is Affordable. The Time to Cap Carbon is Now.\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-07-20T13:32:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/20\\\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":553,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Climate Change Legislation\",\"Economics\",\"News\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/20\\\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/20\\\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/20\\\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Evidence Continues to Pile Up: Climate Legislation is Affordable. The Time to Cap Carbon is Now. - Climate 411\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-07-20T13:32:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/87d04a89b1b46574862bb536773d11ca\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/20\\\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/20\\\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/20\\\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Evidence Continues to Pile Up: Climate Legislation is Affordable. The Time to Cap Carbon is Now.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/\",\"name\":\"Climate 411\",\"description\":\"Blogging the science and policy of global warming\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/87d04a89b1b46574862bb536773d11ca\",\"name\":\"Nat Keohane\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8de630d707fed2cbef6876318f8626c0d4264b580fc399b28bd29dfdfe314ca4?s=96&d=mm&r=g2694fbd4f5aa56f94ec43f22f8bd7409\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8de630d707fed2cbef6876318f8626c0d4264b580fc399b28bd29dfdfe314ca4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8de630d707fed2cbef6876318f8626c0d4264b580fc399b28bd29dfdfe314ca4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nat Keohane\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.edf.org\\\/people\\\/nathaniel-keohane\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/author\\\/nkeohane\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Evidence Continues to Pile Up: Climate Legislation is Affordable. The Time to Cap Carbon is Now. - Climate 411","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2010\/07\/20\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Evidence Continues to Pile Up: Climate Legislation is Affordable. The Time to Cap Carbon is Now. - Climate 411","og_description":"As the debate on climate legislation gears up in the Senate, evidence continues to accumulate that a climate bill will be affordable and provide a much-needed boost to our economy. A new analysis released by the Department of Energy\u2019s Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the comprehensive climate and energy legislation introduced by Senators Kerry and ...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2010\/07\/20\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\/","og_site_name":"Climate 411","article_published_time":"2010-07-20T13:32:06+00:00","author":"Nat Keohane","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nat Keohane","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2010\/07\/20\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2010\/07\/20\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\/"},"author":{"name":"Nat Keohane","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/#\/schema\/person\/87d04a89b1b46574862bb536773d11ca"},"headline":"The Evidence Continues to Pile Up: Climate Legislation is Affordable. The Time to Cap Carbon is Now.","datePublished":"2010-07-20T13:32:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2010\/07\/20\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\/"},"wordCount":553,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Climate Change Legislation","Economics","News","Policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2010\/07\/20\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2010\/07\/20\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2010\/07\/20\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\/","name":"The Evidence Continues to Pile Up: Climate Legislation is Affordable. The Time to Cap Carbon is Now. - Climate 411","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-07-20T13:32:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/#\/schema\/person\/87d04a89b1b46574862bb536773d11ca"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2010\/07\/20\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2010\/07\/20\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2010\/07\/20\/the-evidence-continues-to-pile-up-climate-legislation-is-affordable-the-time-to-cap-carbon-is-now\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Evidence Continues to Pile Up: Climate Legislation is Affordable. The Time to Cap Carbon is Now."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/","name":"Climate 411","description":"Blogging the science and policy of global warming","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/#\/schema\/person\/87d04a89b1b46574862bb536773d11ca","name":"Nat Keohane","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8de630d707fed2cbef6876318f8626c0d4264b580fc399b28bd29dfdfe314ca4?s=96&d=mm&r=g2694fbd4f5aa56f94ec43f22f8bd7409","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8de630d707fed2cbef6876318f8626c0d4264b580fc399b28bd29dfdfe314ca4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8de630d707fed2cbef6876318f8626c0d4264b580fc399b28bd29dfdfe314ca4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nat Keohane"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.edf.org\/people\/nathaniel-keohane"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/author\/nkeohane\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2558\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2558"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}