{"id":841,"date":"2009-08-19T17:01:27","date_gmt":"2009-08-19T22:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/?p=841"},"modified":"2009-08-19T17:01:27","modified_gmt":"2009-08-19T22:01:27","slug":"cap-and-trade-economic-efficiency-and-reduced-emissions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2009\/08\/19\/cap-and-trade-economic-efficiency-and-reduced-emissions\/","title":{"rendered":"Cap and Trade: Economic Efficiency and Reduced Emissions"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a guest post by Charles F. Wurster, Ph.D. <\/strong>He is Professor Emeritus of Environmental Sciences at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and is a founding trustee of Environmental Defense Fund.<\/em><\/p>\n

Global warming and climate change will severely affect life on Earth during this century. It is primarily caused by burning oil and coal, along with deforestation.\u00a0 Numerous effects are already occurring around the globe. Yet the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), intended to reduce climate change, passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a tiny 219-212 majority.\u00a0 Why wasn’t it unanimous?<\/p>\n

Some thought the bill too strong.\u00a0 Others considered it too weak.\u00a0 Some believed it would cost too much.\u00a0 Others don’t take climate change seriously.\u00a0 \u00a0Only half of Americans think human activities are the cause.<\/p>\n

Opponents of the bill have intentionally disseminated disinformation and confusion about climate change. Many companies also oppose the bill because they suspect it would reduce their profits.\u00a0 There’s a vast amount of wealth and political power amassed in the status quo.\u00a0 Why should they change?<\/p>\n

Despite the many compromises needed to gain the votes for passage, Congress must pass ACES if we are to diminish climate change, the greatest issue of our time.\u00a0 The basic structure of the bill is a cap-and-trade system, which is misunderstood by many Americans, including congressmen.\u00a0\u00a0 That hampers passage.<\/p>\n

Cap and trade was pioneered in the 1980s by Dr. Dan Dudek, an economist with Environmental Defense Fund, to combat acid rain.\u00a0 EDF convinced the first President Bush to include it in the Clean Air Act of 1990, and by 2000 emissions of sulfur dioxide, the cause of acid rain, were cut in half at a small fraction of the original cost estimates by the industry.\u00a0 Compliance was 99% because its mandate was unavoidable.\u00a0 Cap and trade became the most effective anti-pollution device in recent memory.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now cap and trade is being applied to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the main pollutant causing climate change.\u00a0 Cap and trade was adopted internationally under the Kyoto Protocol, which was rejected by the second Bush Administration but ratified by 184 other countries.<\/p>\n

To be clear about how cap and trade works, consider a simple example: <\/strong><\/p>\n