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When a fossil-fuel is used power plant releases a ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, how much does that increase the cost of property damage from rising seas—or hurricanes, or wildfires? What’s the price tag on the loss of crops and worsening human health outcomes caused by that ton of greenhouse gas?
According to the scientists in President Joe Biden’s administration, the answer is $51—at least for now. This number, known as the “Social cost of carbon” puts a dollar amount on the harm done by climate pollution. It’s a vital figure for all kinds of federal policymaking—from Vehicle mileage standards to pipeline approvalsTo oil and gas drilling—and also a deeply controversial one, given the huge range of factors that go into it. As former Mother Jones climate reporter Rebecca Leber wrote last year:
Settling on that one number is a minefield of disagreement, because it hinges on estimating generations of damages from climate change as well as the wealth of future generations. While science supports a high social cost of carbon to hasten the transition away from fossil fuels, the politics are much messier and fraught. It’s been a hotly contested issue since the Obama administration, which settled on $51 per metricTon finalized in 2016. The Obama administration used estimates of the Carbon is a social cost to help justify EPA rules directly targeting climate change, like reducing carbon emissions from cars and trucks, and indirectly, such as regulating mercury from power plants. A higher figure would be more justifiable.
In spite of all the chaos, Trump’s former president lowered the estimate by $1 to $7, allowing him and his team to reduce climate regulations. Leber reported. (By his administration’s reasoning, climate change impact outside the US shouldn’t factor in to the figure.) Biden, in turn restored the social costs to an interim figure $51 based upon global climate change impacts. He also revived a group to update it.
This is a good example of how to be a good citizen. There are many other areas., one of Trump’s federal court appointees has picked up the ball and is running with it. On Friday, James Cain, a federal judge with the Western District of Louisiana, issued a preliminary injunction to stop the government from using the Biden administration’s higher estimate. Cain sided in the case of Republican attorneys general that sued the administration last summer. They argued that it was illegal to restore a higher estimate and that doing so would increase energy costs and decrease state revenues from energy production. Guardian.
The Hill reports that Cain’s order blocks federal agencies—including the EPA, the Transportation Department, and the Interior Department—from using the working group’s temporary $51 figure, in part because it accounts for global damage. This metric “directly causes harm” when used to evaluate the oil and gas lease sales some states depend on for revenue, Cain reasoned.
Cain’s ruling is a Blossom to Biden administration’s efforts to bring US climate policy more in line with that of the rest of the world, the Guardian writes. Meanwhile, the working group to update the social cost of carbon is running behind—the panel was expected to issue its findings A month ago.
