The Unsustainable Costs of President Biden’s Climate Agenda
June 16, 2022 29 min read
Authors:
Kevin Dayaratna, Katie Tubb and David Kreutzer
SUMMARYOne of President Biden’s first actions in office was to recommit the United States to the Paris Agreement on global warming. This Backgrounder details the harmful economic implications of doing so by modeling a theoretically efficient carbon tax designed to achieve the Administration’s emissions reduction targets. While the Paris Agreement’s climate impact will be minimal at best, it will impose significant costs on American families and businesses. Instead of implementing an agenda that will decrease Americans’ access to energy and cost trillions, President Biden and Congress should pursue a policy agenda that advances economic freedom, rejects symbolic but ineffective climate policies, and reduces barriers to innovation and economic opportunity.
KEY TAKEAWAYSThe Biden Administration’s climate goals are so unrealistic that the Heritage Energy Model—a clone of the EIA’s model—crashes before they can be achieved.Attempting to meet these goals through a carbon tax would reduce U.S. GDP by $7.7 trillion over 18 years and U.S. employment by 1.2 million jobs.Eliminating all U.S. emissions would reduce global temperatures by less than 0.2 degrees Celsius by 2100—wrecking the economy for a negligible climate benefit. Copied
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One of President Joe Biden’s first actions in office was to recommit the United States to the Paris Agreement on global warming. The international accord aims to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius from preindustrial levels, with the ultimate objective of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.1
https://www.heritage.org/energy-economics/report/the-unsustainable-costs-president-bidens-climate-agenda
