In an effort to response to the widespread health and economic issues associated with the coronavirus pandemic, Congress has been working on legislative responses. This is the second major stimulus bill, an initiative led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The bill provides roughly $1…
This working paper identifies some of the major gaps in Harvard’s existing reporting on the climate impacts of its endowment; potential leverage points to address these gaps; and some next steps to develop solutions that protect investment flexibility for Harvard Management Company while greatly and…
These are the supporting slides to a presentation given in May 2019 in the Synapse Energy Economics webinar series. The presentation provides an overview of the scope and magnitude of energy subsidies around the world, and discusses common issues that arise with regards to measurement and value…
For many years, policy discussions have focused on strategies to bring down greenhouse gas emissions using taxes, permits and other regulatory or statutory limits. Yet fossil fuel markets across the world remain littered with government programs subsidizing these emissions. The subsidies are large…
In its proposed tariffs to remove potential distortions caused by subsidies in capacity markets, PJM includes a number of limitations and exclusions that appear to result in unequal evaluation of subsidies across different fuel cycles. This will likely impede PJM’s core objective of ensuring…
This review assesses the House and Senate tax reform proposals as they relate to the energy sector. Three main areas are examined: cross-cutting changes to tax rates or baselines and whether some of them will have disproportionate or distortionary impacts on particular fuels; specific energy tax…
Peter Erickson, Adrian Down, Michael Lazarus and Doug Koplow
Posted on:
10/18/2017
Countries in the G20 have committed to phase out ‘inefficient’ fossil fuel subsidies. However, there remains a limited understanding of how subsidy removal would affect fossil fuel investment returns and production, particularly for subsidies to producers. Here, we assess the impact of major federal…
This chapter explores global subsidies to energy. These subsidies cost hundreds of billions of dollars per year, often skewing market decisions in ways detrimental to environmental quality and social welfare. Subsidy reform could provide large fiscal and environmental gains, although remains…
Presentation at the NPEC Public Policy Fellowship Retreat in March 2017. The meeting was convened and hosted by the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. The slides evaluates many of the arguments people make to support increased subsidies to nuclear and finds them wanting.
PJM Interconnection is the regional transmission operator (RTO) serving more than 60 million customers in 13 states and the District of Columbia, mostly in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Incumbent base load generators have complained that subsidies to renewable resources have been…
Within the United States, the cost of energy subsidies to taxpayers is both substantial and often not properly documented. Regular review to evaluate the fiscal costs of these policies; their impact on market structure, competiveness, and environmental quality; and their ability to achieve stated…
This presentation provides an overview of the long history of fossil fuel subsidies in the United States, key milestones in reporting transparency, and remaining data challenges in assessing and quantifying the many pathways that continue to subsidize fossil fuel extraction and consumption today.
Peter Erickson, Adrian Down, Michael Lazarus, and Doug Koplow
Posted on:
1/9/2017
The United States now produces as much crude oil as ever – over 3.4 billion barrels in 2015, just shy of the 3.5 billion record set in 1970. Indeed, the U.S. has become the world’s No. 1 oil and gas producer. The oil production boom has been aided by tax provisions and other subsidies that support…
Mark Fulton, Doug Koplow, Reid Capalino, Andrew Grant
Posted on:
8/1/2016
In January 2016 the US Secretary of the Interior announced a moratorium on new coal leasing on public lands pending completion of a comprehensive review. Nearly 90% of coal produced from public lands is from leases in the Powder River Basin (PRB) of Wyoming and Montana.
Although nuclear power is a source of low carbon electricity, it is by no means a clear solution to the challenge we face in reducting greenhouse gas emissions. This presentation discusses common metrics to assess the most cost-efficient source of ghg emissions and reviews multiple studies…
Mark Fulton, Tim Buckley, Doug Koplow, Luke Sussams, and Andrew Grant
Posted on:
9/25/2015
There has been much discussion of fossil fuel subsidies as both an inefficient use of public tax dollars and a barrier to the scaling up of low- and no-carbon energy sources. As "green" incentives are reduced, the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies becomes even more urgent in order to reduce market…
Energy resources vary widely in terms of their capital intensity, reliance on centralized networks, environmental impacts, and energy security profiles. Although the policies of greatest import to a particular energy option may differ, their aggregate impact is significant. Subsidies to conventional…
Numbers ranging from half a trillion to two trillion dollars have been cited in recent years for global subsidies for fossil fuels. How are these figures calculated and why are they so different? The most commonly used methods for measuring subsidies are the price-gap approach-quantifying the gap…
Government subsidies to energy producers, transporters, and consumers are widespread throughout the world and represent a large public investment in the energy sector. In theory, this investment could be funding a variety of social goals such as providing the poor with access to basic energy…
