BLOOMBERG • January 28, 2021
It’s the most important number you’ve never heard of, and President Biden is about to change it as he resets U.S. environmental policy. It’s the social cost of carbon. Under President Barack Obama, the social cost of a ton of carbon was set at about $50 by a technical working group. But President Donald Trump disbanded the working group and sliced the social cost of carbon to $2-7. That low number played a large role in justifying significantly weaker regulation of emissions from cars, power plants and more. He ordered federal agencies to consider only the damage done in the U.S., and to ignore the damage to the rest of the world. Biden’s order requires the working group to come up with a final number by January 2022, and to do so after considering public comments, the advice of experts. ~ Cass R. Sunstein