Climate-Change Policy Could Spur Economy

National climate-change policy could spur economic growth, according to Impacts of Comprehensive Climate and Energy Policy Options on the U.S. Economy, a report by Johns Hopkins University and the Center for Climate Strategies that was coincidentally released just as the U.S. Senate killed pending climate-change action.  The researchers looked at 16 existing climate action plans developed by individual states; the plans variously addressed heat and power energy supply, manufacturing and industry, agriculture and forestry, transportation and land use, buildings and facilities, and waste management. The economic impacts of these plans were then extrapolated to the nation using an econometric model to analyze effects on employment, income, gross domestic product, and consumer energy prices. Finally, the data were used to analyze the outcome of a cap-and-trade provision in the Kerry-Lieberman bill that was under consideration by Congress. The project involved five years of research and involved over 1,500 state-level stakeholders who jointly developed the climate-change response strategies used for the analysis.

The results: “2.5 million net new jobs and a $159.6 billion expansion in U.S. GDP could result by 2020 if 23 major sector-based policies and measures in state climate action plans are implemented nationwide.” Furthermore, greenhouse-gas emissions would be reduced to 27% below 1990 levels in 2020, surpassing President Obama’s proposed targets. The authors stated that all levels of government should be involved in implementing such actions in order to achieve the greatest benefits. The research was funded by a number of private foundations.