Climate Change

How much will hurricane damage increase in coming years because of climate change and coastal development? This report examines the implications for the federal budget and three approaches for decreasing the pressure for federal spending.

Terry Dinan, Senior Advisor for CBO’s Microeconomic Studies Division, testifies on the Renewable Fuel Standard before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Subcommittee on Environment.

Using the rising amounts of renewable transportation fuels required by the Renewable Fuel Standard will be difficult. CBO looks at how those requirements and alternatives would affect fuel and food prices and greenhouse gas emissions.

A carbon tax or cap-and-trade program could make emission-intensive U.S. products less competitive and increase emissions overseas. Import tariffs related to emissions could reduce those effects but would be hard to implement.

A carbon tax’s effect on the economy depends on how lawmakers would use revenues generated by the tax. The tax would help reduce U.S. emissions but would have only a modest effect on the Earth’s climate without a worldwide effort.

CBO's report assesses how the credits affect the relative cost of owning an electric vehicle, and how cost-effectively the credits reduce gasoline consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

CBO’s analysis suggests that the projected high cost of using CCS means that current federal programs are unlikely to support widespread use of the technology. The study discusses several other options that lawmakers might consider.