Rethinking Regulation co-director offers insight on complexities of U.S. climate policy

In a newly released policy brief, Kenan Institute for Ethics’ Rethinking Regulation co-director Jonathan Wiener provides context on the complex web of climate change policy, written for the Climate Economics Chair in Paris.

Wiener’s essay, “Climate Policy in the New US Administration,” covers a range of topics related to the current status and possible future of U.S. climate policies in the wake of President Trump’s decision to withdraw the country from the Paris Agreement on climate change. Because America can’t officially withdraw until November 2020 at the earliest, there are still many things that could happen through legislation, litigation and social change.

“The future of climate policy is not determined by a single actor,” writes Wiener, William R. and Thomas L. Perkins Professor of Law at Duke Law School, Professor of Environmental Policy at the Nicholas School of the Environment, and Professor of Public Policy at the Sanford School of Public Policy. “Analysts and activists may imagine optimal climate policy being made by a single benevolent decision maker, but the reality is that climate policy – for better or worse, and both internationally and domestically – involves actions by multiple decision makers with diverse instruments and interests.”

In addition to his brief, Wiener also took part in three-question Q&A with the Climate Economics Chair to provide additional context to the American withdrawal of the Paris Agreement, the role of the Environmental Protection Agency and the topic of a federal carbon tax.

For more information, read the policy brief and the Q&A.