During a February 3 EcoSalon in New York and a February 18 national TeleSalon, Rick Duke, Director of NRDC’s Center for Market Innovation (CMI) walked E2 members and guests through elements of NRDC’s effort - dubbed "
Cap 2.0" - to move next-generation climate legislation at the federal level. Rick’s key messages were:
- There is growing political momentum for mandatory federal carbon caps;
- Taking steps now to set a carbon cap in place can help ensure economic recovery through green infrastructure investment and give investors some certainty about future profits;
- Quickly passing climate legislation in the U.S. opens the possibility of rapid progress toward an international climate containment plan; and
- Refining the details of a cap-and-invest bill - as NRDC is now working with Congress to do - will transition the U.S. smoothly into an efficient, low-carbon economy.
Rick’s presentation also included discussion about how to translate into U.S. legislation the lessons learned from the European Union’s mishaps and successes implementing its cap-and-trade regime, the advantages a cap-and-invest strategy has over a carbon tax, and what federal climate legislation might mean for states that have in place - or are preparing to pass - their own policies to limit carbon emissions. (E2 members: listen to a recording of the TeleSalon presentation of Cap 2.0: | )
E2 would like to thank Rick Duke for leading these talks. We also thank NRDC Executive Director Peter Lehner for being part of the New York EcoSalon, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett for hosting that event.
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