Heritage Foundation's White Paper Supports SCC's Robustness, Yet Calls for Its Elimination
The Heritage Foundation has published a white paper challenging the federal social cost of carbon (SCC) model. However, their analysis supports the SCC's robustness and range, while their policy recommendations call for its elimination.
The Heritage Foundation's white paper argues for the elimination of the federal SCC, claiming uncertainties in its estimates. However, federal courts have ruled that the value of carbon emissions reduction is not zero, making the Heritage Foundation's approach unscientific and contrary to federal case law.
The Heritage Foundation's technical analysis, using the GIVE model developed under the SCC Initiative, actually shows that the SCC is still in the range of $100-$200 per ton of carbon dioxide. The GIVE model's central estimate for 2020 was $185 per ton. The Heritage Foundation's analysis reinforces the robustness of the SCC estimates, even considering changes outside the current state of the science.
The Trump administration previously directed the EPA to consider eliminating the use of the SCC. The Heritage Foundation's policy recommendations echo this, calling for the SCC's elimination and endorsement of a new law to prohibit its future use.
Despite their technical analysis supporting the SCC's range and robustness, the Heritage Foundation recommends its elimination. This discrepancy raises questions about the alignment of their analysis with their policy recommendations.
