Launching a cap-and-trade-style program to address climate change could help Maryland raise money for clean energy projects in low-income communities, according to a new analysis.
The carbon market could help fund home electrification through grants or low-interest loans to install heat pumps. It also could provide money to help disadvantaged residents buy electric vehicles, and fund more charging stations, said a report by Resources for the Future, an economic think tank focused on the environment.
“Maryland has really put out front a concern for the effect on the most vulnerable parts of the state’s economy,” said Dallas Burtraw, a report author and senior fellow at RFF. “When they’re thinking about how to stand up a cap-and-invest program, they are specifically thinking about its impact on low-income households, and on small businesses in the state.”
Maryland officials asked RFF to examine a carbon market as an option for meeting the state’s legally mandated climate goals, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions 60 percent below 2006 levels by 2031, and hitting net-zero by 2045.
