In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Kevin Rennert, a fellow at Resources for the Future (RFF) and director of RFF’s Social Cost of Carbon Initiative. Rennert has prior experience as deputy associate administrator for the Office of Policy at the US Environmental Protection Agency, senior advisor on energy for the US Senate Committee on Finance, and senior professional staff for the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Rennert’s expertise and leadership in these areas make him the perfect candidate to discuss the recently released interim estimate for the social cost of carbon—what it is, why it matters, how it’s evolved, and what will happen next with this important number.

References and recommendations:

“Discounting 101” explainer by Brian Prest; https://www.rff.org/publications/explainers/discounting-101/

“Estimating the Value of Carbon: Two Approaches” by Resources for the Future and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority; https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/estimating-the-value-of-carbon-two-approaches/

“Assessing Approaches to Updating the Social Cost of Carbon” from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, by Maureen L. Cropper, Richard G. Newell, Myles R. Allen, Maximilian Auffhammer, Chris E. Forest, Inez Y. Fung, James K. Hammitt, Henry D. Jacoby, Robert E. Kopp, William Pizer, Steven K. Rose, Richard Schmalensee, and John P. Weyant; https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/assessing-approaches-to-updating-the-social-cost-of-carbon#sectionPublications

“Accelerating Decarbonization of the U.S. Energy System” from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, by Stephen W. Pacala, Colin Cunliff, Danielle Deane-Ryan, Kelly Sims Gallagher, Julia Haggerty, Christopher T. Hendrickson, Jesse D. Jenkins, Roxanne Johnson, Timothy C. Lieuwen, Vivian Loftness, Clark A. Miller, William A. Pizer, Varun Rai, Ed Rightor, Esther Takeuchi, Susan F. Tierney, and Jennifer Wilcox; https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25932/accelerating-decarbonization-of-the-us-energy-system