J Wayne Leonard, CEO of the energy company Entergy, has an op-ed in the New York Times arguing for a carbon cap-and-trade program and against a renewable portfolio standard. What’s his beef with an RPS? The problem, according to Leonard, is that an RPS would force his company to invest in renewable energy (!), while a cap-and-trade program would not. Clean coal uber alles!
This, I think, is why some people are suspicious of corporate climate kumbayas like USCAP. There’s a sense that perhaps some of the companies are signing on not because they think cap-and-trade will force them to fundamentally change the way they do business, but because they are pretty sure it won’t.
Fortunately, we don’t have to put all our eggs in the clean-coal basket. We don’t have to choose between a carbon standard and a RPS. Leonard’s article is Exhibit A for why we need both.
