News Tip: President's Call for Action on Climate Change Will Need Balance
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013
News Tip: President's Call for Action on Climate Change Will Need Balance
In tonight's State of the Union Address, President Obama is expected to call for renewed action to address climate change.
Billy Pizer
Associate professor, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
Faculty Fellow, Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University
(o), (c), billy.pizer@duke.edu
NOTE: (Pizer will be traveling Wednesday morning and e-mail will be the fastest way to reach him.)
Pizer, an environmental economist, was deputy assistant secretary for environment and energy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 2008 to 2011, overseeing Treasury’s role in the domestic and international environment and energy agenda of the United States. He also has served as the senior economist for energy and environment on the President's Council of Economic Advisors. Pizer recently co-authored a paper reviewing the state of carbon markets (published in the winter 2013 edition of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, http://tinyurl.com/pizer) and a paper examining the challenge of addressing climate change in a global economy.
Quote:
“Climate change is a challenging problem because it is intricately linked to our use of energy and economic activity.
“In 2009, the climate change policy debate was dominated by discussions of a cap-and-trade approach. Now, there are discussions of other ideas -- carbon taxes, clean energy standards and a more traditional regulatory approach, as well as cap and trade. All these approaches will have different overall costs, a different distribution of costs, different impacts on emissions and different legislative versus regulatory requirements.
“The president’s approach will need to balance environmental goals, economic costs, and the need to achieve an equitable distribution of outcomes.”
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Note to broadcast editors: Duke provides an on-campus satellite uplink facility for live or pre-recorded television interviews. We are also equipped with ISDN connectivity for radio interviews. Broadcast reporters should contact Scott Wells at (919) 660-1741 or James Todd at to arrange an interview.
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