By Arianna Skibell
A group of economists and lawyers is arguing that the current calculation of the societal cost of greenhouse gas emissions is the best estimate available, despite President Trump’s decision to withdraw the metric and disband the interagency working group that developed it.
The social cost of carbon, which currently sets the price of CO2 at $50 per ton emitted, has been used in cost-benefit analyses of more than 150 proposed and final rules. Its intended purpose is to help regulators draft rules that will ultimately reduce emissions associated with global warming, and it was first adopted by an Obama administration interagency working group in 2010…
…In a letter published today in the journal Science, a number of prominent scholars urge both government and the private sector to continue using the metric.
They write that the calculation reflects peer-reviewed scientific and economic models, noting that many state and federal policies use the metric.
Among the experts signing the letter is Michael Greenstone, economics professor and director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. Greenstone also co-led the original development of the working group under President Obama…
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