Opposition to carbon pricing has come not only from the fossil fuel lobby, as might be expected, but also from environmental justice (EJ) advocates who seek to end the disproportionate environmental harms imposed upon people of color and low-income communities, and who fear that carbon pricing could reinforce rather than remedy pollution exposure disparities. This paper focuses on the objections to carbon pricing that EJ advocates have raised. They argue that carbon pricing (i) fails to reduce emissions significantly, (ii) fails to reduce the disproportionate impacts of hazardous co-pollutants on people of color and low-income communities; (iii) hits low-income households harder than richer households; and (iv) commodifies nature. This paper discusses how carbon pricing can be designed to address these very real concerns.
Environmental Justice and Carbon Pricing
- Intro Text: Proposals for carbon pricing have met with criticism from environmental justice advocates on the grounds they (i) fail to reduce emissions significantly, (ii) fail to reduce the disproportionate impacts of hazardous co-pollutants on people of color and low-income communities; (iii) hit low-income households harder than richer households; and (iv) commodify nature. PERI researchers James Boyce and Michael Ash, along with Brent Ranalli, discuss how carbon pricing can be designed to address these concerns. They describe ways through which carbon pricing policies can be designed to be both environmentally effective and environmentally just.
- Type of publication: Working Paper
- Research or In The Media: Research
- Research Area: Environmental and Energy Economics
- Publication Date: 2022-09-06
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