US Mid-Century Strategy on Deep Carbonization

CEnREP Affiliates evaluate US Mid-Century strategy on deep decarbonization.

CEnREP Affiliate faculty, Harrison Fell, Associate Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Christopher Galik, Associate Professor of Public Administration, along with Joe DeCarolis, Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, published a paper titled, “Evaluating the US Mid-Century Strategy for Deep Decarbonization Amidst Early Century Uncertainty” in the journal Climate Policy earlier this summer.  Their study was featured in the Washington Post.  The article highlighted some key study results including:

“…the paper estimates that by 2050 a single Trump term could lead to the release of 12 billion more metric tons of carbon dioxide than would have been emitted under the Obama administration’s long-term plan for cutting emissions, a detailed proposal known as the Mid-Century Strategy for Deep Decarbonization released at the end of President Barack Obama’s final term. If Trump is elected to a second term, his policies would release an additional 20 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. That’s equivalent to more than half a year’s worth of carbon emissions across the globe.”

Source: “U.S. emissions probably won’t increase under Trump, study says. But they won’t fall, either.” Washington Post August 11, 2017 article

 

Harrison Fell
Christopher Galik
Joe DeCarolis

The full Washington Post article is available here and the original paper is available from the Climate Policy website for those with a subscription.