The levels of vital carbon-cutting policy

The power plant ‘Neurath’ in Rommerskirchen, Germany. PATRIK STOLLARZ/AFP/Getty Images

Among the discussions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Crowds & Climate 2014 event with the MIT Climate CoLab was the dissection of policy change on local, regional, national, and international levels. Obviously, the need to cut carbon emissions is essential for moving forward as a healthy planet. No one demonstrated this more intensely than Renate Christ, Secretary of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, at the Blouin Creative Leadership Summit 2014 in New York in September. But the ways in which emission-cutting policies must change has to occur throughout all these levels of lawmaking.

Brian Swett, Chief of Environment, Energy and Open Space for Boston, spoke as to how important change has been for that city, and how the focus for Boston has been based on the principle of: “We can’t manage what we don’t measure.” Boston has policies in place — modeled after some other cities including New York — that require building managers and builders to report data that allows policy makers to understand where emissions are coming from, and how building developments contribute to emissions. (Which they do, greatly.) That initiative is one example that has improved the local economy, and helped Boston get close to achieving carbon-cutting goals.

On a regional level, Dale Bryk, Director of the Energy & Transportation Program for the National Resources Defense Council, described how nine states in the northeast United States decided to get together to work on a climate policy. The importance of this collective action lies in how regional the energy markets are. She said that all of them were thinking about creating climate policies, but they preferred to work at the regional level to create a model which focused on capping emissions from power plants, among other goals. The end result of this initiative was successful in that the infrastructure created from it was “solid”. There is a regional cap for emissions, and each state has a portion, as the caps are divided across the region. “Emissions are lower, energy bills are lower,” and the project has also been a huge job creator, said Bryk. In a sense, the regional work is critical because the energy markets are regional, for the most part, and the approach to new energy policy needs to align with the markets.

Legislation has also been put in place for policy change nationally — in the U.S., but also plenty of other countries. Curt Spalding, Administrator of the New England Region for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mentioned that the overall response to the Clean Power Plan has been positive, and that there is policy underway. But it is important to note that the Plan is meant as use of the Clean Air Act, which is grounded in the principle that carbon dioxide emitted in excess is a pollutant. Spalding emphasized that it’s important to make clear that this policy is about the protection of human health.

And the economic benefits of clean tech are clear. “We have seen dramatic reductions in carbon emissions when you have the right incentives,” he said. “It is economically sensible to do this.” While each state gets to make a plan that meets a carbon intensity goal, the policy has been politicized to the point that there are serious challenges. “It’s important to get the public on board with the notion that this is not a big sacrifice, and instead it’s a great opportunity,” Spalding said.

But, of course, climate change is a global problem, and Noelle Eckley Selin, Assistant Professor of the MIT Engineering Systems Division and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, emphasized the crucial need for addressing policy internationally. “We are going to need corresponding initiatives in every country, there is no global climate agreement that will do that,” she pointed out. There is also a lot of deep-seated pessimism about how to create a global agreement. The U.N. Climate Conference that will convene in Paris in 2015 will set the stage for international cooperation — or at least, that is the hope. “It’s a steep path, but we have to do it,” she said.

As much as policy change to stem climate change is needed on a grassroots level, it must reflect in a global shift.