That might not sound like much of a difference, but over many decades those percentage-point shifts are substantial, according to Andres Restrepo, staff attorney at the Sierra Club. Under President Obama, the highest discount rate was 5 percent. The Trump administration is using higher discount rates of 3 to 7 percent. It's also changing the discount rate-a calculation that considers how much society is willing to pay now to avoid future damage. Instead, the Institute for Policy Integrity recommended the best approach would be to use the calculations put forward by the Obama administration's Interagency Working Group in August 2016, which set a social cost of methane at $1,200 per metric ton for 2020 in 2007 dollars ($1,400 in today's dollars).ĮPA isn't just using domestic values for methane emissions. The other problem with the approach, according to the guide, is the existing methods for calculating the "domestic-only" value of the social cost of methane are neither reliable nor complete. Conversely, each ton of greenhouse gases abated in another country benefits the United States along with the rest of the world," the authors wrote. state not only creates domestic harms, but also imposes large externalities on the rest of the world. "Because greenhouse pollution does not stay within geographic borders but rather mixes in the atmosphere and affects the climate worldwide, each ton emitted by the United States or a particular U.S. "They have begun to manipulate those estimates in ways that are not at all consistent with the best science or economics," he said.Ī guide on the social cost of greenhouse gases co-authored by Schwartz and published by NYU's Institute for Policy Integrity argues that using a domestic-emissions-only approach doesn't make sense for the United States or the rest of the world. Jason Schwartz, a research scholar at New York University School of Law, slammed the Trump administration's changes to calculations for the social cost of greenhouse gases. The administration is taking a similar approach in its revisions to the social cost of carbon ( Climatewire, Oct. So why are the numbers shrinking under the Trump administration? Part of the reason is EPA is only considering the domestic cost of methane emissions in its calculations, a fact that critics say severely underestimates the global environmental harm caused by the gas. The Interior Department Bureau of Land Management's interim value for the social cost of methane is at about $162 per metric ton. Pruitt isn't the only one taking a cudgel to climate impact estimates. EPA estimated that the climate benefits the United States would give up by delaying the rule for a year would be between $4.3 million and $13 million. The agency was seeking comment for a proposal to delay implementation of portions of an Obama-era rule aimed at controlling methane emissions from new and modified sources in the oil and gas industry. can be developed based on the best available science and economics," an EPA spokesperson said in an email.ĮPA revealed how it was reshaping methane's impact in a recently published notice. The agency will use this value "until an improved estimate of the impacts of climate change in the U.S. The agency recently set an interim social cost of methane at $55 per metric ton in 2020, more than 25 times less than the estimate of the previous administration. Under Administrator Scott Pruitt, the Trump EPA is taking a different approach. That's orders of magnitude greater than the social cost of carbon-about $50 per metric ton. For 2020, its price was set at about $1,400 per metric ton. That difference is reflected in the social cost of methane calculated under the Obama administration. Over 100 years, methane's warming impact is over 30 times that of carbon dioxide. The shorter-lived gas has a much stronger warming effect than CO 2. EPA regulates greenhouse gases.Īfter carbon dioxide, methane is the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Its revision by the Trump administration is part of a broader shift within the federal government to downplay the impacts of climate change and will have important implications for how U.S. Known as the social cost of methane, this obscure metric is a younger counterpart to the better-known social cost of carbon.Įconomists and scientists developed the calculation to give policymakers a better idea of the economic benefits of cutting methane emissions. The Trump administration is tweaking how it measures the costs of emitting a potent greenhouse gas, a move that will have major impacts for climate rules.
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