Synopsis

Putting a Price on Carbon: Ensuring Equity finds that the revenues from a carbon price can be used to address regional disparities and ensure that unfair burdens are not imposed on households that cannot afford them. By using just a small portion of carbon pricing revenue to specifically target low-income households and coal communities, policy designers can ensure that these groups are better off under a carbon price than alternative policy pathways.

This study is part of a series of WRI publications on carbon pricing in the United States. You can access Putting a Price on Carbon: Ensuring Equity, and additional WRI research on carbon pricing at wri.org/carbonpricing.

Executive Summary

Pricing carbon emissions is an efficient and affordable way for the United States to address climate change. However, increasing the cost of carbon intensive products and services will not impact all Americans equally. It is important to design climate policies that do not impose burdens on households unable to carry them.

Putting a Price on Carbon: Ensuring Equity finds that the revenues from a carbon price can be used to address regional disparities and ensure that unfair burdens are not imposed on households that cannot afford them. By using just a small portion of carbon pricing revenue to specifically target low-income households and coal communities, policy designers can ensure that these groups are better off under a carbon price than alternative policy pathways.