Prospects for climate-change legislation are gaining momentum in Washington D.C., but "what lies ahead is the hard work of designing the carbon market in a way that is both environmentally and economically viable," a Duke University environmental policy expert says.
Four new bills to curb global warming have been announced in recent weeks, and reports suggest that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will soon form a special committee to recommend legislation for cutting greenhouse gases.
"The political obstacles to progress on climate change have fallen," says Tim Profeta, director of Duke's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.
In addition to cost analyses for the various bills being proposed, decision-makers are considering how to encourage private sector investment in new energy technologies; how to design a carbon-reduction program that avoids competitive disadvantages in the international market; and how to analyze the environmental performance of the different climate change proposals, Profeta says.
"Lawmakers, industry executives and environmental NGOs alike are looking for clear-eyed, unbiased analysis of the long-term impacts of the proposed options," Profeta says. "They are taking a pragmatic approach."
The Nicholas Institute is a nonpartisan academic institution established in 2005, in conjunction with Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, to bridge the gap between academic research and active policymaking. The institute's four areas of initial concentration are: climate change and the economics of limiting carbon pollution; ocean governance and coastal development; freshwater concerns; and emerging environmental markets. The institute maintains offices in Durham, N.C., and Washington, D.C.