Economic Modeling of Federal Climate Legislation

With Congress now evaluating several federal climate legislative proposals aimed at capping greenhouse gas emissions, numerous economic analyses are underway to examine each proposal’s costs and distributional impacts on the economy.  A purpose of this workshop is to describe several of the economic models that are used to develop this information and to compare results of common reference scenarios that cover a range of policy targets and timetables spanning today’s federal climate policies. Our primary intent is:

1. To enhance the transparency of these models and their supporting analyses and thereby aid those whose job it is to take the information generated by these models and make policy decisions

2. To identify key enabling technologies for long-term reductions of greenhouse gases to inform how complementary technology policies can be developed to aid in the transition and ensure an economically effective response 

The meeting will convene a broad spectrum of individuals addressing climate policy: economic modelers and analysts who develop the studies, Congressional and Agency staff who are consumers of their information, members of the business community who would be subject to the greenhouse gas caps, and various other stakeholder groups with a strong interest in climate change policies and solutions.