IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/enejou/v30y2009i2_supplp79-114.html

The Role of Emission Trading in Domestic Climate Policy

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Hanemann

Abstract

This paper focuses on two specific issues in the design of a domestic cap and trade program for GHGs - whether the cap should be located upstream or downstream, and whether trading alone will suffice to achieve the desired reduction in GHGs or will need to be supplemented with additional regulatory measures. The paper argues for a downstream cap accompanied by measures such as a renewable portfolio standard, efficiency standards for vehicles, appliances and buildings, and a low carbon fuel standard. For this argument, it is necessary to address both the theory and the empirical evidence of emission trading. After reviewing the theory, the paper examines the actual experience in the U.S. with emission trading for SO2, to see whether the assumptions used in the theory actually applied in practice. What actually happened deviated in several important respects from what was supposed to happen according to the conventional theorizing. The design of a cap and trade program for GHG is then discussed, first considering the similarities between the past regulation of air pollutants and the challenge posed by GHGs, and then making the case for a downstream cap and complementary policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Hanemann, 2009. "The Role of Emission Trading in Domestic Climate Policy," The Energy Journal, , vol. 30(2_suppl), pages 79-114, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:30:y:2009:i:2_suppl:p:79-114
    DOI: 10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol30-NoSI2-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol30-NoSI2-5
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol30-NoSI2-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Burtraw, Dallas, 2000. "Innovation Under the Tradable Sulfur Dioxide Emission Permits Program in the U.S. Electricity Sector," RFF Working Paper Series dp-00-38, Resources for the Future.
    2. Curtis Carlson & Dallas Burtraw & Maureen Cropper & Karen L. Palmer, 2000. "Sulfur Dioxide Control by Electric Utilities: What Are the Gains from Trade?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(6), pages 1292-1326, December.
    3. Rodney Stevenson, 1982. "X-Inefficiency and Interfirm Rivalry: Evidence from the Electric Utility Industry," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(1), pages 52-66.
    4. Stavins, Robert, 2007. "A U.S. Cap-and-Trade System to Address Global Climate Change," Working Paper Series rwp07-052, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    5. Burtraw, Dallas & Lile, Ron, 1998. "State-Level Policies and Regulatory Guidance for Compliance in the Early Years of the SO2 Emission Allowance Trading Program," RFF Working Paper Series dp-98-35, Resources for the Future.
    6. Kira R. Fabrizio & Nancy L. Rose & Catherine D. Wolfram, 2007. "Do Markets Reduce Costs? Assessing the Impact of Regulatory Restructuring on US Electric Generation Efficiency," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(4), pages 1250-1277, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fowlie, Meredith, 2005. "Emissions Trading, Electricity Industry Restructuring and Investment in Pollution Abatement," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19265, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    2. Considine, Timothy J. & Larson, Donald F., 2006. "The environment as a factor of production," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 645-662, November.
    3. Robert N. Stavins, 2008. "Addressing climate change with a comprehensive US cap-and-trade system," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 24(2), pages 298-321, Summer.
    4. Stratford Douglas & Seth Wiggins, 2015. "Effects of Acid Rain Regulations on Production of Eastern Coals of Varying Sulfur Content," Working Papers 15-38, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    5. Krupnick, Alan & Darmstadter, Joel & Richardson, Nathan & McLaughlin, Katrina, 2015. "Putting a Carbon Charge on Federal Coal: Legal and Economic Issues," RFF Working Paper Series dp-15-13, Resources for the Future.
    6. Wenjie Luo & Xunyong Xiang, 2024. "Unsynchronised Legislation and Unintended Pollution: Estimating Regulation-Induced Substitution in China," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 87(3), pages 731-760, March.
    7. David Anthoff & Robert Hahn, 2010. "Government failure and market failure: on the inefficiency of environmental and energy policy," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 26(2), pages 197-224, Summer.
    8. Grover, David, 2013. "The ‘advancedness’ of knowledge in pollution-saving technological change with a qualitative application to SO2 cap and trade," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 123-134.
    9. Ferris, Ann & Shadbegian, Ron & Wolverton, Ann, 2014. "The Effect of Environmental Regulation on Employment: An Examination of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments and its Impact on the Electric Power Sector," National Center for Environmental Economics-NCEE Working Papers 280919, United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
    10. Joshua Linn, 2008. "Technological Modifications in the Nitrogen Oxides Tradable Permit Program," The Energy Journal, , vol. 29(3), pages 153-176, July.
    11. Karen Clay & Akshaya Jha & Joshua A. Lewis & Edson R. Severnini, 2021. "Impacts of the Clean Air Act on the Power Sector from 1938-1994: Anticipation and Adaptation," NBER Working Papers 28962, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Burtraw, Dallas & Szambelan, Sarah Jo, 2009. "U.S. Emissions Trading Markets for SO2 and NOx," RFF Working Paper Series dp-09-40, Resources for the Future.
    13. Førsund, Finn & Granderson, Gerald, 2013. "The impacts of the Clean Air Act on production cost, and the substitution between inputs in the electric utility industry," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 785-794.
    14. Hancevic, Pedro Ignacio, 2016. "Environmental regulation and productivity: The case of electricity generation under the CAAA-1990," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 131-143.
    15. Haoran He & Yefeng Chen, 2021. "Auction mechanisms for allocating subsidies for carbon emissions reduction: an experimental investigation," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 57(2), pages 387-430, August.
    16. Ann E. Ferris & Ronald J. Shadbegian & Ann Wolverton, 2014. "The Effect of Environmental Regulation on Power Sector Employment: Phase I of the Title IV SO2 Trading Program," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(4), pages 521-553.
    17. Burtraw, Dallas & Palmer, Karen & Heintzelman, Martin, 2000. "Electricity Restructuring: Consequences and Opportunities for the Environment," RFF Working Paper Series dp-00-39, Resources for the Future.
    18. Linn, Joshua, 2010. "The effect of cap-and-trade programs on firms' profits: Evidence from the Nitrogen Oxides Budget Trading Program," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 1-14, January.
    19. Kumar, Surender & Managi, Shunsuke, 2010. "Sulfur dioxide allowances: Trading and technological progress," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 623-631, January.
    20. Tin Cheuk Leung & Kwok Ping Ping & Kevin K. Tsui, 2019. "What can deregulators deregulate? The case of electricity," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 1-32, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:30:y:2009:i:2_suppl:p:79-114. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.