The first decade of the 2000s was a period of active and largely unanticipated state engagement in the development of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This triggered substantial social science literature that explored the drivers behind climate policy adoption. These included state...

This report summarizes results from national-level surveys on public attitudes toward climate change administered in Canada and the US in Fall 2013. Since 2008, the National Surveys on Energy and Environment (formerly the National Surveys of American Public Opinion on Climate Change) has...

The winter of 2014 took its toll on many aspects of life in the United States. From individual level costs such as increased heating expenses and disrupted work schedules to broad economic effects including strained public works budgets and slower than expected growth in gross domestic product,...

The fall 2014 version of the National Surveys on Energy and Environment (NSEE) finds 60% of Americans believe that there is solid evidence of increasing temperatures on Earth. These findings represent a moderate rebound from the three-year low posted in the spring of 2014, when 55% of Americans...

In light of recent attempts in many state legislatures to repeal or weaken renewable portfolio standards (RPSs) in the 28 states that have adopted them, the latest version of the National Surveys on Energy and Environment (NSEE) gauged public opinion on these state renewable energy requirements....

The Obama Administration’s creation of the Clean Power Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the electric power sector has renewed interest in possible state or regional adoption of cap-and-trade programs to meet mandatory reduction targets. The latest version of the National Surveys on...

In the wake of a memorable winter season in the United States that included both record cold and snow in the Northeast and historic warmth and drought in the West, American views regarding the existence of global warming have rebounded to the seven-year NSEE average, with 63% of Americans...

The Bush administration entered office in 2001 pledging to support active collaboration with states in environmental protection and pursued this approach in some early initiatives and appointments. This emphasis was rapidly abandoned, however, in favor of an effort to recentralize oversight in a...

Conventional wisdom holds that a carbon tax is a political non-starter. However, results from the latest version of the National Surveys on Energy and Environment (NSEE) provide evidence of substantial public support for a tax on the carbon content of different fossil fuels when specific uses of...

The Marcellus Shale play in the northeastern corner of the United States holds one of the most robust deposits of natural gas in North America. Stretching from Virginia and West Virginia northward to central New York State, the Marcellus Shale deposit contains an estimated 141 trillion cubic...