Recent political developments have brought to the political fore the issue of controlling emissions of greenhouse gases. In the United States, numerous proposals have surfaced promoting policies to limit domestic emissions of gases like carbon dioxide (CO2), a primary contributor to climate change. Many of these proposals embrace ?market-based? approaches, including the creation of a new tax or a new trading program for carbon emissions. In this flurry of political advocacy and activity, a fair amount of ambiguity and confusion has arisen concerning what these policy options might entail, and how their impacts might differ. The purpose of this policy brief is to describe some of the basic features of carbon taxes and carbon-based emissions trading. Our goal is to aid decision makers to more effectively weigh the advantages and disadvantages of these approaches.
In the spring semester of 2007, an interdisciplinary class of 29 students and 6 instructors calculated the annual carbon emissions of Purdue University, as well as generated a series of ideas to reduce those emissions over time to the point of ?carbon neutrality,? or zero net carbon emissions.
This report reviews research findings concerning attitudes and behavior relevant to climate change. It then presents some of the possible implications of this research for strategies to engage more people to care about and to act to mitigate undesirable climate change.