Join us on November 3 at 3:30 p.m. for this Sustainable Energy Seminar presentation by J. Paul Kelleher, Professor of Bioethics and Philosophy.

Abstract

The social cost of carbon (SCC) represents an attempt to express in monetary terms the harm done by the emission of one extra ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This lecture will explain the various analytical tasks SCC values are used to address, and will explain how different tasks call for different normative approaches to estimating SCC values.  It will then look under the hood to explain certain key analytical choices that the US EPA made in 2023 when it published the last of set of SCC values released by the federal government prior to the second Trump administration’s abandonment of the SCC.

For students in EP 418: The EPA’s estimates are the values referenced in the Energy Policy Simulator documentation in the context of “provid[ing] a reference point that may help a user decide what numerical setting [of a carbon tax] might be in line with his/her policy preferences.”      

Registration

This event is offered online only through Zoom Webinar. Registration is required through Zoom. Click here to register for this and all other webinars as part of the Sustainable Energy Seminar series in Fall 2025.