Cap or Tax? Key Questions and Answers

Debate is raging about the relative merits of a carbon tax or a cap and trade system as the centerpiece of federal legislation to reduce emissions that fuel global warming. Here is why cap and trade must be the U.S. policy instrument of choice.

The Importance of the USCAP Blueprint

Here is why WRI supports the USCAP Blueprint, which provides a framework to shift the U.S. to a low carbon economy, and a more secure energy future.

USCAP Emissions Reduction Targets
97-102% of 2005 levels by 2012
80-86% of 2005 levels by 2020
58% of 2005 levels by 2030
20% of 2005 levels by 2050

WRI signed the USCAP Blueprint for Legislative Action launched January 15, 2009. The USCAP blueprint is the product of two years of rigorous work by a unique partnership of big business and non governmental organizations committed to urgently enacting climate legislation in 2009.

WRI believes that USCAP has outlined an environmentally-sound, workable, and cost-effective framework to reduce U.S. emissions contributing to global climate change. Taken together, its provisions will facilitate the transformational change required to shift our nation toward a low carbon economy and a more energy secure future.

The USCAP Blueprint for Legislative Action

The USCAP Blueprint for Legislative Action
By Jennifer Layke on us policy

This morning, a 31-member coalition of major corporations and environmental groups released its “Blueprint for Action.” USCAP members will also testify before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee and brief members of the Obama Transition Team.

(This post an an excerpt from the Summary Overview of USCAP’s Blueprint for Legislative Action.)

On January 15, 2009, the US Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) issued the Blueprint for Legislative Action—a detailed framework for legislation to address climate change.

The Blueprint represents two years of work by USCAP members building on our January 2007 Call for Action (PDF), a groundbreaking report containing principles and recommendations that urged “prompt enactment of national legislation in the United States to slow, stop and reverse the growth of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the shortest time reasonably achievable.”

The Blueprint is a direct response to requests by federal policymakers for a detailed consensus that could help inform legislation. While USCAP is a diverse organization, it does not include all stakeholders and we acknowledge that the Blueprint is not the only possible path forward. However, we believe the integrated package of policies we are recommending provides a pragmatic pathway to achieve aggressive environmental goals in a responsible and economically sustainable manner.

The United States faces an urgent need to reinvigorate our nation’s economy, enhance energy security and take meaningful action to slow, stop and reverse GHG emissions to address climate change.

USCAP agrees that the science is sufficiently clear to justify prompt action to protect our environment. Each year of delayed action to control emissions increases the risk of unavoidable consequences that could necessitate even steeper reductions in the future, with potentially greater economic cost and social disruption.

To address these challenges successfully will require a fundamental shift in the way energy is produced, delivered and consumed in the US and around the globe. Thoughtful, comprehensive and tightly linked national energy and climate policy will help secure our economic prosperity and provide American businesses and the nation’s workforce with the opportunity to innovate and succeed.

While we recognize that achieving the needed emission reductions is not free of costs, we also believe well‐crafted legislation can spur innovation in new technologies, help to create jobs, and increase investment and provide a foundation for a vibrant, low‐carbon economy.