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and his more conservative-leaning constituents from West Virginia. Given the Democrats’ recent push to tie virtually everything to climate change, the fact that Manchin is the Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee makes things a little trickier. He has pledged to “always stand up for energy policies that are good for West Virginia jobs, America’s security and our way of life,” so it will be interesting to see how he balances Democrats’ climate efforts against West Virginia jobs. Manchin is probably thrilled, though, that he no longer sits on the Senate Banking Committee. Thanks to the Democrats, the Banking committee is set to hold a new hearing on climate risks to the financial system, an issue that does not bode well for West Virginia jobs.
In Climate Change Weekly 387 I warned that China presents a huge obstacle to President Joe Biden’s efforts to promote a global approach to fighting climate change. As I pointed out then, China’s carbon dioxide emissions are already approximately double those of the United States, and China has made clear any cooperation on reducing greenhouse gas emissions will depend on the Biden administration’s willingness to ignore China’s theft of U.S. residents’ intellectual property, Beijing’s aggressive geopolitical ambitions, its currency manipulation, its genocidal actions against the Uyghur minority, and its violation of human rights and its own international commitments during its crackdown on Hong Kong’s self-rule.
Roger Pielke, Jr. Debunks Biden Administration Social Cost of Carbon Estimates Last Friday, the White House blog announced a “return to science.” How so? Federal agencies will henceforth be guided by “evidence-based estimates of the benefits of reducing climate pollution.” Meaning what, exactly? Agencies’ benefit-cost calculations must now incorporate the Obama administration’s social cost of carbon (SCC) estimates, adjusted for inflation. Some would see this development as a return to flimflam. In a more professorial vein, University of Colorado polymath Roger Pielke, Jr. reports that “The Biden Administration Just Failed Its First Scientific Integrity Test.” Quick Background The social cost of carbon is an estimate in dollars of the cumulative long-term damage caused by one ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted in a specific year. That number also represents an estimate of the benefit of avoiding or reducing one ton of CO2 emissions.