What We Can Learn from Modeling the California Cap-and-Trade Policies in the Electricity Market?

The state of California is required under the Assembly Bill 32 or known as the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 to control for greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector. Although the main instrument for the sector -- a cap and trade program -- is expected to become effective next year, the implementation by the California Air Resources Board together and other state agencies is subject to at least two concerns which possibly undermine the efficiency of the program: emission leakage and contract shuffling. This talk will summarize the outcomes from two projects that examine its emission and economic implications and highlight what we can learn from these modeling exercises.

Speaker: Yihsu Chen, UC Merced