Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 11/2011

US Climate Change Policy Efforts

Dallas Burtraw

September 2011

Centre for European Policy Studies

Abstract

This Policy Brief summarises the emerging regulations at the national level in the US, and offers an assessment of potential emissions reductions under the Clean Air Act. It also describes the efforts at the subnational level, and the interaction of these policies with the Clean Air Act under the particular structure of so-called ‘environmental federalism’. This structure places central responsibility for implementation of regulations at the state level, making the architecture of existing state-level policies increasingly relevant and influential.