How ‘carbon scoring’ can help Congress make real progress on climate change | Brookings
When the Congress is planning for the budget in fiscal 2024, it understands that finances will play a crucial role in all its policymaking decisions. Congress evaluates the potential financial outcomes of suggested policies using "budget scoring." Nonetheless, policymakers presently lack the resources to assess the equally vital, long-term effects of policies on the significant issue of our time - climate change.
In order for our country to achieve the necessary cuts in emissions to prevent a climate emergency, we must prioritize our carbon footprint just as much as we prioritize financial impacts. It is essential for Congress to consistently assess the expected impact on carbon emissions when creating new bills and make our climate objectives a high priority in their decision-making.
To better understand how "carbon scoring" could work in the real world, we can look to budget scoring for inspiration. When Congress reviews a piece of potential legislation, they use objective data and information from the Congressional Budget Office to make informed decisions and balance trade-offs. We can apply this same approach to measuring carbon emissions, using emission goals laid out in agreements like the Paris Agreement (which aims to reduce emissions by 50-52% by 2030 compared to 2005) as a benchmark, much like how we use fiscal surplus/deficit in budget scoring. Carbon scores would give lawmakers vital information about how new bills would affect future greenhouse gas emissions levels, which would help them make choices that promote a low-carbon economy. This is similar to how calorie labels on menus can help people choose healthier options. Carbon scores would allow Congress to monitor how proposed legislation would impact U.S. progress (or regression) towards its climate goals. Lawmakers could use carbon scores purely as information, or they could adopt formal targets, similar to how they currently do with the federal budget.
The Congressional Budget Office is respected for their reliable and unbiased budget scoring. Unfortunately, Congress lacks a similar source for carbon emissions information. While the U.S. Energy Information Administration delivers dependable analyses at the behest of Congress, their publication speed can be slow and only become available once a bill has already been passed into law. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy and EPA may be able to offer emissions data, but since they are part of the executive branch, their findings may be deemed partisan.
Since there is no national group responsible for measuring carbon emissions, various organizations like research institutions and private companies have to offer information in bits and pieces about a bill's impact. To illustrate, when the Inflation Reduction Act was introduced, groups that weren't part of the government, including our own, rapidly reviewed the bill's effect on emissions. In contrast, the Department of Energy didn't release its assessment of the legislation until after it was signed into law, and the EPA just finished finalizing its new rules for the power sector.
Non-governmental organizations have been contributing significantly to policy discussions; however, they have some limitations such as lack of transparency, reliance on customized models, varied assumptions and specificity to certain legislations. For more authenticity, it would be favorable if the government conducted such analysis itself. An autonomous Office of Carbon Scoring could support Congress by providing climate impact data with government resources, creating consistency, transparency and importance. Alternatively, an added set of responsibilities to the Congressional Budget Office could use its independent reputation and infrastructure for this purpose.
Currently, researchers at Resources for the Future and the Brookings Institution are collaborating to create tools that can be used by the federal government to assess the carbon impact of legislation. They are working on two projects that complement each other. Brookings will develop a plan for a federal Office of Carbon Scoring and will outline where the office should be located within the government, what resources it will need, what scores to calculate, what models to use, and other necessary components. Meanwhile, Resources for the Future will utilize their experience in economic modeling to create viable carbon scores and determine the best way to calculate them. The goal of these projects is to lay the foundation for carbon scoring climate-related legislative proposals over the next few years. The hope is that this will aid discussions and decision-making in Congress.
The Biden administration's budget proposal is being discussed by Congress, and there is increasing concern about the climate crisis. This could lead to discussions around policy decisions that could have a big effect on emissions and the severity of future climate impacts, for better or for worse. To make informed decisions, Congress should equip itself with the necessary tools before making irreversible choices.
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