We present a new method that enables users of the federal government’s flagship energy policy model (NEMS) to dynamically estimate the direct cost impacts of climate policy across U.S. household incomes and census regions. Our approach combines NEMS output with detailed household expenditure...

Last year, Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced S. 332, the Climate Protection Act of 2013. Based on a “fee-and-dividend” concept, the bill would levy a carbon pollution fee on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions starting in 2014 at $20 per metric ton of CO2, rising...

Integrated assessment models (IAMs) are increasingly used to evaluate carbon policy impacts on energy structure, but different models can yield considerably different results. This paper seeks to frame model results for policymakers and other consumers of model outputs. In this analysis we...

California established a cap-and-trade market for greenhouse gas emissions as the core instrument in its comprehensive climate policy. State law requires that market rules minimize leakage of emissions to other states — a particularly important constraint in the electricity sector, where...