Pennsylvania Effort to Join RGGI Faces Legal, Political Peril

A new report examines the economic and climate impacts of Pennsylvania joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, now stalled in court.

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The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, was the first major carbon market to be established in the United States. Since its inception in 2009, RGGI has contributed to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector in a market that now spans 11 eastern states. Yet RGGI has recently seen its expansion stalled in Pennsylvania, one of the nation’s largest emitters of carbon dioxide, and a state where the struggle over the future of the energy industry, and the roles to be played by fossil fuels and clean energy, has been particularly intense.

Authors of a recent report on expected economic and climate impacts of Pennsylvania’s participation in RGGI discuss their findings, and explore the political and legal battles that are now taking place over the market’s future in the state. That future may ultimately lie in the hands of a newly elected governor who inherited RGGI from his predecessor, but who has yet to publicly commit to the market’s development. But first, a state court must render its decision on the legality of Pennsylvania’s participation in the RGGI market.

Angela Pachon is research director at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. Maya Domeshek is a research associate at Resources for the Future. Their recent report, “The Prospects for Pennsylvania as a RGGI Member” is a joint publication of the Kleinman Center and Resources for the Future.

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The Prospects for Pennsylvania as a RGGI Member https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/the-prospects-for-pennsylvania-as-a-rggi-member/

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