Presented By: Science, Technology, and Public, Policy; Ford School of Public Policy
"The Emerging Revolution in Emissions Trading Policy"
Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) Winter 2010 Lecture Series "The Emerging Revolution in Emissions Trading Policy"
Speaker: Leigh Raymond, Associate Professor of Political Science, Purdue University and Associate Director of the Purdue Climate Change Research Center
Commentator: Dennis Assanis, Jon R. and Beverly S. Holt Professor of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Department and Director of the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute
Date: Monday, 22 February 4:00-5:30 pm
Location: 1110 Weill Hall (Betty Ford Classroom), 735 S. State St., Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Sponsored by The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation Co-Sponsored by the University of Michigan Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute and the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment
ABSTRACT: Emissions trading policies initially relied on “squatter's rights” principles granting emissions allowances to existing polluters for free. Recently, however, policy designers have largely abandoned this approach, requiring polluters to buy allowances from the public through auctions. Given the high financial stakes, this is a momentous shift. Given how skeptical experts and decision makers have been of the political viability of allowance auctions, and the opposition of powerful economic interests, it is also a remarkable political development. This presentation will document the surprising emergence of a new paradigm of public resource ownership, as well as offering some thoughts on why this paradigm suddenly gained political traction. The main argument is that the linking of long-standing efficiency-based justifications for auctions to widely shared norms of public ownership and entitlement finally made auctions politically feasible, and should make some form of public ownership more politically durable going forward. At the same time, the presentation will also explore an ongoing tension between two competing visions of public ownership within this new allocation paradigm. Under one conception, a more egalitarian norm of ownership mandates equal shares for all citizens. Under the alternative, public ownership entails greater discretion for elected representatives, who may use auction revenue for purposes they determine are in the best interests of the public. How this tension will be resolved remains a vital question for future emissions trading policies, even within a new paradigm of public ownership. LEIGH RAYMOND is Associate Professor of Political Science at Purdue University and a founding member and Associate Director of the Purdue Climate Change Research Center. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from U.C. Berkeley as well as a B.A. in Philosophy from Yale University. Dr. Raymond has published articles on environmental policy in more than a dozen scholarly journals, as well as his 2003 book Private Rights in Public Resources (Resources for the Future Press). His most recent work on emissions trading is a chapter on “The Emerging Revolution in Emissions Trading” for a forthcoming (2010) book from Brookings Press: Greenhouse Governance: Addressing American Climate Change Policy. Dr. Raymond has given invited talks on emissions trading before numerous audiences, including the Indiana Center for Coal Technology Research, the Harvard Electricity Policy Group, the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, and the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.
For more information, contact the Program in Science, Technology, and Public Policy through stpp.fordschool.umich.edu or email jbisanz@umich.edu
Speaker: Leigh Raymond, Associate Professor of Political Science, Purdue University and Associate Director of the Purdue Climate Change Research Center
Commentator: Dennis Assanis, Jon R. and Beverly S. Holt Professor of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Department and Director of the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute
Date: Monday, 22 February 4:00-5:30 pm
Location: 1110 Weill Hall (Betty Ford Classroom), 735 S. State St., Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Sponsored by The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation Co-Sponsored by the University of Michigan Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute and the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment
ABSTRACT: Emissions trading policies initially relied on “squatter's rights” principles granting emissions allowances to existing polluters for free. Recently, however, policy designers have largely abandoned this approach, requiring polluters to buy allowances from the public through auctions. Given the high financial stakes, this is a momentous shift. Given how skeptical experts and decision makers have been of the political viability of allowance auctions, and the opposition of powerful economic interests, it is also a remarkable political development. This presentation will document the surprising emergence of a new paradigm of public resource ownership, as well as offering some thoughts on why this paradigm suddenly gained political traction. The main argument is that the linking of long-standing efficiency-based justifications for auctions to widely shared norms of public ownership and entitlement finally made auctions politically feasible, and should make some form of public ownership more politically durable going forward. At the same time, the presentation will also explore an ongoing tension between two competing visions of public ownership within this new allocation paradigm. Under one conception, a more egalitarian norm of ownership mandates equal shares for all citizens. Under the alternative, public ownership entails greater discretion for elected representatives, who may use auction revenue for purposes they determine are in the best interests of the public. How this tension will be resolved remains a vital question for future emissions trading policies, even within a new paradigm of public ownership. LEIGH RAYMOND is Associate Professor of Political Science at Purdue University and a founding member and Associate Director of the Purdue Climate Change Research Center. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from U.C. Berkeley as well as a B.A. in Philosophy from Yale University. Dr. Raymond has published articles on environmental policy in more than a dozen scholarly journals, as well as his 2003 book Private Rights in Public Resources (Resources for the Future Press). His most recent work on emissions trading is a chapter on “The Emerging Revolution in Emissions Trading” for a forthcoming (2010) book from Brookings Press: Greenhouse Governance: Addressing American Climate Change Policy. Dr. Raymond has given invited talks on emissions trading before numerous audiences, including the Indiana Center for Coal Technology Research, the Harvard Electricity Policy Group, the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, and the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.
For more information, contact the Program in Science, Technology, and Public Policy through stpp.fordschool.umich.edu or email jbisanz@umich.edu
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