Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 04/2013

A Climate Diplomacy Proposal: Carbon Pricing Consultations

Adele Morris, Warwick McKibbin, Peter Wilcoxen

March 2013

Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University

Abstract

The United States has considerable tax administration and cap-and-trade expertise that could highlight potentially successful carbon pricing approaches. Although this experience is not climate-related, the United States deploys an efficient and highly compliant excise tax system, and it could assist developing country efforts to build their own capacity to tax carbon. The United States also has long experience with cap-and-trade systems for criteria air pollutants, much of which is transferable to greenhouse-gas emissions trading.