Experts from both sides of the U.S. climate debate are urging more federal investment in clean energy innovation — and the scrapping of cap-and-trade proposals — in the aftermath of the U.S. Senate’s failure to pass a climate bill. In a joint report, the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank; the more left-leaning Brookings Institution; and the Breakthrough Institute call for a “post-partisan” climate policy that reduces the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels, invests as much as $25 billion annually in clean energy research and development, and overhauls the federal incentives system to reward innovation that reduces the costs of clean energy.
The groups suggest that lawmakers drop the controversial cap-and-trade option, which would place a steadily-rising cap and price on CO2 emissions. “The entire climate and energy agenda that we’ve been talking about for several years now has hit a dead end, so it’s time to hit the reset button,” said Steven Hayward of the American Enterprise Institute and a co-author of the report.
