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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 6, NUMBER 2, FEBRUARY 1993

REPORTS...
EMISSION REDUCTION POLICIES: UNITED STATES

Item #d93feb102

Cooling the Greenhouse Effect: Options and Costs for Reducing CO₂ Emissions from the American Electric Power Company, N. Helme, M.G. Popovich, J. Gille, 55 pp., Jan. 1993, $25. Center for Clean Air Policy, 44 N. Capitol St., S. 602, Washington DC 20001 (202-624-7709).

Reports a two-year study by the Center of the impacts to a large electric utility of reducing CO₂ emissions 20% by 2015. The search for least-cost strategies shows that energy conservation is most effective; offsets, such as tree-planting and coalbed methane recovery, greatly lower the costs of reducing emissions. Natural offsets such as trees provide an excellent transition strategy, buying time to make long-term cost-effective decisions.

Item #d93feb103

Choosing a Sustainable Future: Report of the National Commission on the Environment, 190 pp., Dec. 1992, $15 pbk./$25 hbk. Available through Island Press, Box 7, Covelo CA 95428 (800-828-1302).

The Commission is a group of high-level environmental officials who have served in Republican and Democratic administrations, and includes several advisors to President Clinton. The report advocates increasing federal gasoline taxes $1 per gallon over five years, and new taxes on the carbon content of other fuels. It broadly discusses sustainable development, advocating pollution prevention and the integration of environmental policy with federal policy on other topics such as agriculture and transportation. (See Intl. Environ. Rptr., p. 824, Dec. 16. 1992)

Item #d93feb104

Green Fees: How a Tax Shift Can Work for the Environment and the Economy, R. Repetto, R.C. Dower et al., 104 pp., Nov. 1992, $12.95. WRI (World Resour. Inst.) Pubs., POB 4852, Hampden Sta., Baltimore MD 21211 (800-822-0504 or 410-516-6963).

Concludes generally that green fees are environmentally and economically preferable to traditional taxes. Carbon taxes in particular could generate annual revenues of about $35 billion, and are the least expensive method for the U.S. to meet its obligation under the Climate Convention. Methods are discussed for reducing undue burdens on any parties or sectors from such a carbon tax.