News

Think Blue: Finding Growth in the Caribbean Sea

In the Huffington Post, Pawan Patil writes that the “blue” economy looks to balance ocean wealth and ocean health by sustainably managing ocean assets (e.g. fish stocks and coral reefs) and ecosystem services (e.g. coastal protection, the potential for carbon capture, and oxygen production). And according to a new report by the World Bank "Toward a Blue Economy: A Promise for Sustainable Growth in the Caribbean" which was written in collaboration with the Nicholas Institute and others, millions of people in the Caribbean could benefit.

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Compliance with Clean Power Plan is Within Reach — Even for States Opposing It

In a blog post, the Environmental Defense Fund writes about their analysis that concludes Clean Power Plan targets are eminently reasonable, noting that their results are consistent with recent, independent economic analyses by the Nicholas Institute, M.J. Bradley & Associates, and the Bipartisan Policy Center. All of these analyses, EDF says, predict low compliance costs because favorable economics for lower and zero-carbon sources of electricity are expected to continue driving sustained investment in these resources even in the absence of the Clean Power Plan. As a result, states around the country are well positioned for compliance.

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U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy's Policies will Raise Utility Bills by $500 a Year, Koch-Backed Group Says

PolitiFact examines why an anti-regulation group is accusing U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy of wanting to use the Senate to adopt policies that would raise the cost of just about everything, starting with utility bills. The article looks specficially at recent modeling analyses surrounding the Clean Power Plan, which paint a different picture. "Our modeling shows average annual changes in Florida retail prices of less than 1 percent between the baseline and the policy," said Dallas Burtraw, senior fellow at Resources for the Future, a think tank that tracks energy policy. "Our results are consistent with those from the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Nicholas Institute (at Duke University)."

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Market Forces Not Enough to Cut Energy Emissions: Report ($)

Market forces are making it cheaper to produce cleaner energy, but U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan is still necessary to drive an overall reduction in power-sector carbon emissions, according to an analysis released today. The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions' policy report compared five recently released studies, including one from the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, analyzing projected effects of the Obama administration's signature climate rule.

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Ocean Preservation Key To Caribbean Resilience

A new World Bank report, co-authored by a Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions researcher, examines how the Caribbean's transition to a blue economy can generate growth while helping countries gain greater resilience with better ocean preservation, reports the Jamaica Gleaner.

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Models Tell us Clean Power Plan will cut Emissions at a Low Cost

The Clean Power Plan will drive down power sector emissions at little to no cost to consumers, according to a Center for Climate and Energy Solutions analysis of recent modeling studies. C2ES examined five recent economic modeling studies, including one by the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, that project the likely impacts of the Clean Power Plan on carbon emissions, the U.S. power mix, and electricity prices.

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What's Driving Down Industry Emissions? The Market ($)

Market forces, not U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan, are the chief driver behind lower carbon emissions right now, energy experts said at a conference on power-sector trends. Low natural gas prices, federal tax breaks for renewables, and the falling cost of wind and solar are behind the electric utility industry's transition away from fossil fuels, which is doing more to cut into greenhouse gas emissions. Such changes do not render the Obama administration's signature climate rule unnecessary, officials pointed out. And states are going to have to think beyond 2030 — the rule's compliance date — if they want to make any meaningful impact against climate change, others said at an all-day event hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center, Great Plains Institute and Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions

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New Report Identifies Key Opportunities to Boost Growth in the Caribbean Sea while Preserving its Ecosystem

Dominican Today reports on a new World Bank report, co-authored by a Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions researcher, that examines how the transition to a ‘blue economy’ for Caribbean countries can not only generate growth, but also help countries gain greater resilience to external shocks by better preserving the ocean.

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Caribbean Sea Earns US$400B a Year; But Economic Activity, Pollution Threats Loom

A report released yesterday has put the economic value of the Caribbean Sea to the region—to include all its services, from fishing, transport, trade, tourism, mining, waste disposal, energy, carbon sequestration and drug development—at US$407 billion per year based on 2012 data, or just shy of 18 percent of the region’s total GDP. Co-authored by a researcher at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, The Jamaica Observer reports that the figure is an underestimation because the region’s ocean economy to date “is not well measured or understood”. Nonetheless, it is projected to nearly double by 2050. In tandem with that increase in economic activity and earning is a projected rise in the number of threats to the ocean from the very activities which it supports.

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New Report Identifies Key Opportunities to Boost Growth in the Caribbean Sea while Preserving its Ecosystem

In the lead up to this week’s ‘Our Ocean’ conference hosted by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington D.C., a new World Bank report, co-authored by a Nicholas Institute research, examines how the transition to a ‘blue economy’ for Caribbean countries can not only generate growth, but also help countries gain greater resilience to external shocks by better preserving the ocean.

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