Argus Media: “Viewpoint: Power Demand to Bolster RGGI Sentiment”
RFF Senior Fellow Dallas Burtraw comments on the future of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
”[Dallas] Burtraw added that there is ‘an increasing recognition that carbon pricing and affordability are not inconsistent and, in fact, can mutually reinforce each other.’
In July, member states agreed to set a more-stringent emissions cap that falls to just over 9 [million short tons] by 2037. Member states must proceed with their individual rulemakings to implement those changes before 2027.
The agreed to changes ‘strengthened the market. So, I would take that as a signal [of] RGGI’s reaffirmation of its interim and long-run goals,’ Burtraw said.
In addition, the RGGI allowance market ‘actually creates degrees of freedom for policymakers because it could be a source of revenue to help them achieve other goals, and one of those goals is affordability,’ Burtraw said.”
