In an article written for the
Wall Street Journal, global energy policy expert Amy Myers Jaffe argues that the US may soon put a price on pollution. Though it seems that pollution valuation and quantification are indubitably important in our collective battle against climate change, the idea of putting a number and price on carbon, the largest culprit, has been met with protest. The propelling factors, Jaffe writes, are preexistent valuation of carbon, technological advancements in viable alternatives, and international developments such as Chinas own development of a carbon-pricing plan and the UNs recent COP 21 in Paris. Unlike former iterations of the policy, she believes that upcoming carbon valuation plans will have the perfect storm of conditions to bolster their chances of getting passed-- the right policy, at the right time.