In 2008, British Columbia implemented a "textbook" carbon tax, with wide coverage, few exemptions, and use of revenue for low-income tax credits and broad-based tax cuts. Has this instrument straight out of the economist's playbook delivered predicted emissions reductions without harming the province's economy or imposing undue hardship on low-income households? A new working paper by the Nicholas Institute and the University of Ottawa's Institute of the Environment and Sustainable Prosperity is the first to broadly gauge the tax's performance across four critical dimensions: emissions, economy, equity, and public acceptance. 

John Virdin, director of the Ocean and Coastal Policy Program at the Nicholas Institute, was recently a panelist for a World Bank Praxis Discussion Series in Sydney, Australia. Virdin reflects on three key questions surrounding the sustainability of fisheries in the Pacific.

Linwood Pendleton, a senior scholar at the Nicholas Institute and International Chair of Excellence at the University of Brest, has explored the notion that conservation is good for people, suggesting that failure to make that case with hard evidence has led to a lack of confidence in environmental management and great uncertainty about its benefits to human well-being. He discusses the idea in a new Q&A. 
 

With the right policy choices, the EPA's proposed Clean Power Plan can be flexible and cost-effective for states, according to a working paper from the Nicholas Institute. The Clean Power Plan uses a provision under the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants in the United States. It gives states flexibility to decide how to meet interim and final emissions reduction goals. The Duke study outlines the tradeoffs of three policy options. A second working paper assesses the impacts of the Clean Power Plan for Southeast states. 
 

The Fisheries Leadership & Sustainability Forum, which provides policy-neutral support for the exploration of challenges and emerging issues facing our nation's federal fishery managers, will be housed exclusively within the Oceans and Coastal Policy Program of Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. The transition will be effective this summer.