May 21st, 2009 · No Comments

From Green Right Now Reports

Arguing that junk economics has replaced junk science as the cause of inaction on climate change issues, more than 100 of the nation’s economists have joined to launch RealClimateEconomics.org. The group, which will use economic evidence to support public policy and business responses to the climate crisis, is modeled after Realclimate.org, an effort among climate scientists to dispel what they see as junk science popularized by climate skeptics.

RealClimateEconomics.org is a project of Economics for Equity and the Environment (E3 Network) and is funded by Portland, Ore.-based Ecotrust, an environmental think tank.

The new group launched its web site RealClimateEconomics.org today with a new report from several of its members on interstate differences in per capita greenhouse gas emissions. The report examines why some states have much lower emissions than others and looks at the potential regional impact of policies, such as cap-and-trade, which will impose a price on energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. The report was written by Dr. Elizabeth Stanton and Dr. Frank Ackerman of Tufts University, and Dr. Kristen Sheeran, who is director of the E3 Network.

Highlights of the report include:

• Greenhouse gas emissions, after correcting for interstate trade in electricity, vary widely from state to state. The highest-emission states have more than six times the per capita emissions of the lowest.
• A few states stand out as having energy-related emissions around half the national average of 21 metric tons of CO2 each year. Those states, in order: Vermont; New York and Oregon (tie for second); Rhode Island, California, and Washington (tie for third). Emissions in these six states are roughly comparable to those of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
• On the other end of the spectrum, Alaska, Wyoming, North Dakota, and Louisiana all emit more than twice the national per capita average (for energy-related emissions). Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia are not far behind.
• In transportation and residential emissions, the same six states – New York, Oregon, California, Rhode Island, Washington and Vermont (tie) – together with the District of Columbia, have remarkably low emissions per capita, far lower than the national average of 11 mT CO2.
• Some of the differences between states are based on factors states can’t control; for instance, the coldest states have high heating needs. But some of the differences between states are related to climate and energy policies, the extent of public transportation in urban areas, the level of gasoline taxes and the reliance on coal for electricity generation.