Climate Change Economics

This website was developed primarily for state legislators and those who work alongside them, including state agencies and governors' offices. The site provides a clearinghouse for the research and analysis efforts of experts in the United States and abroad for the purpose of informing policy choices by the fifty states and other governmental bodies.

Among the groups we especially hope to serve are the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, a group of over 600 legislators from both sides of the aisle and all fifty states for whom environmental issues are a priority, and the National Conference of State Legislatures, along with the legislators and legislative staff these groups serve.

This site is founded on the evidence that the carbon intensity of the U.S. economy could be lowered without major changes in lifestyles. Other advanced industrialized countries maintain very high standards of living, yet use much less energy per capita than the U.S. There is the opportunity to change. The transition to a lower carbon economy, however, carries costs as well as benefits, and we do not advise the best paths forward. Rather, we offer others' proposals and analyses of options for our site users to consider.

We do not offer solutions here, nor do we draw conclusions about probable impacts or preferred policies or practices. The only judgments we make about analyses and proposals included in our library are about their coverages and balance, not about their assumptions. We seek to  offer materials that, while they may argue for or against particular courses of action on economic grounds, always consider the economic consequences of alternatives, including doing nothing. We hope Climate Change Economics contributes to the policy debate over a lower carbon economy by increasing understanding of the issue and improving the ability of decisionmakers to use the tools of economic analysis. 

The E.P. Systems Group, Inc. (EPSG) has developed this site and is disseminating information about it while both collecting and soliciting contribution of materials as new analyses and proposals emerge over time. The clearinghouse function should serve all parties interested in climate change economics. The site also provides a restricted access discussion board for NCEL members and their staff and guests. We hope this function will allow stakeholders to exchange "lessons learned" in their efforts to promote economically efficient conversion to lower carbon economic activity in their states while achieving economic benefits in the process.

We acknowledge the cooperation of the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators in the development of this site:

EPSG remains responsible for the content and classification schemes used in the clearinghouse.

Parties uploading documents and web resources or commenting on listings and the participants in the discussion boards represent only themselves and the opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the site developers, funders or any of the organizations formally supporting the site effort.

Initial funding has been provided by the Strategic Programme Fund (SPF), the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office's flagship program budget. The fund's purpose is to promote action on global issues in areas relating to the United Kingdom's highest foreign policy objectives.

No funding entity exercises control over the content of this website, the selection of sites and documents to include in our library or invitations to individuals to participate on the legislators' discussion board. Neither funders nor other non-participants will have access to the content of those discussions.