Mankiw's Blog, the Presidential D's, and Carbon Policy.

I came across Greg Mankiw's blog this weekend.

Mankiw being the author of a really well done intermediate macro econ book I used while in undergrad. I've enjoyed his op-eds in the past and was drawn to his opinion. I was pleasantly surprised by his focus as a conservative economist. Looking at ways for markets to capture CO2 emissions.

It turns out that Mankiw is a well know and leading advocate for capturing the externalities of CO2 emissions. This stance developing while also having been the appointed chair of George W's Council of Economic Advisers.

At his blog Mankiw points out some inconsistent assumptions about the difference in cost allocation of a CO2 cap and trade program as opposed to a carbon tax. Also worth mentioning is his creation of a "Pigou Club" for others who advocate for his stance on taxing CO2 emissions.

This Club being kicked off by a "Manifesto" published as an Op-Ed in the NY Times. Never being one to discount the work done via manifesto I recommend checking it out.

Nymex Launches Green Tag Exchange

From the Wall Street Journal:

In the latest sign of growing appetite for environment-related investment tools, New York Mercantile Exchange parent Nymex Holdings Inc. and a group of Wall Street trading houses plan to launch an exchange for trading carbon emissions and other environmental products.

The new market for off-sets is called the Green Exchange. The Environmental Leader also provides and even better article including extensive links.

Presentations on Carbon Trading

Worth note. Many talk about the potential for carbon off-set markets to develop. The problem though is that most of the people talking about these markets don't seem to know the specifics.

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend the NEBC's Managing Carbon Conference in which a total session was dedicated to the basics of getting green-tag trading projects off the ground. As either a way to mitigate a carbon footprint, finance a needed technology improvement or solely to make doing the right thing more profitable. They cover it.

Worth note. Bill Edmonds of NW Natural. Being a natural gas utility that is following (voluntarily) the lead of the electrical utilities in offering carbon offsets to its customers. This is a leading move by a utility and is nationally significant.

The Powerpoint Presentations are now available online at the NEBC's website. And I recreated the links below.

Carbon Offsets - Buying, Selling and Trading
The ins and outs of carbon offsets: markets, vendors, verification, and pricing.

Moderated by Alex Schay of Carbon Solutions Northwest with a panel of experts providing presentations.

Stephanie Berner White, 3 Degrees (PPT)
Bill Edmonds, Nortwest Natural Gas (Smart Energy Program) (PPT)
Steve Gutmann, EcoSecurities (PPT)
Erica Keeley, The Climate Trust (PPT)

The Managing Carbon Conference is expected to be an annual event. This first attempt being a spectacular success. As someone who is well read on the subject from a lay person's perspective this conference filled in alot of blanks and brought my understanding forward a great deal. I also now am thinking conversantly in how a cabon offset strategy might help finance a utility scale biofuel project. This level of understanding wouldn't have happened without the conference.

U.S. House White Paper on Climate Change (i.e. Cap and Trade)

Here it is. I've heard rumblings and talk of rumblings about potential Federal action on climate. From what I heard last week at the NEBC's Managing Carbon Conference this is the lead document to look at. Where the legislation might be going.

The US House Energy and Commerce Committee's White Paper on Climate Change Legislation.

Described in the intro, this 22 page paper is defined as the next step in the legislative process to develop a Federally required cap and trade program.

I realize this far out the sausage making process that is legislation is hard to bet on. Regardless though I can't help but think that this will be the wedge issue up there with abortion and taxes this Presidential election cycle. How pragmatically well done or weakly responded to, this issue could determine which party will hold the White House come January of 09.