Prof. Aseem Prakash and colleague Prof. Nives Dolšak ponder that Washington State's Climate Commitment Act (CCA) is in trouble this upcoming election season.
Climate mitigation or decarbonization is a political issue because it creates a global benefit (with local co-benefits) but imposes local costs (such as higher energy costs, or the loss of employment in specific industries). With inflation and economic insecurity, voters are less willing to bear these costs, even when they think climate change is an important policy issue. This is the key political problem that Washington state’s CCA, and decarbonization policy in general, confront.
Cap and Invest is a hidden tax. However, in politics, stuff seldom remains hidden. As gasoline prices in the state of Washington began to increase in 2023...Cap and Invest allegedly added about 50 cents to the price of a gallon of gasoline as fuel distributors passed on emission allowance costs to consumers....Gas prices are a sensitive political issue because Washington currently has the third-highest gas price behind Hawaii and California (in some previous months, it was the highest). Because gas prices are displayed prominently by gas stations, motorists see them frequently. And they certainly notice them every time they pump gas. By some measures, 59% of motorists choose gas stations because of price reasons.
Please link here for the full article.