The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced a slew of actions aimed at curtailing climate-related regulation, including repealing the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC), the metric regulators use to estimate the economic benefits of avoiding climate change and determine whether climate regulation is worth its burdens.

While one could argue that the EPA’s move is purely political, the reason the Trump administration can do this without much blowback is because the SCC they are rescinding is viewed as politically influenced.

Whether regulations are implemented or repealed is governed by processes managed by political appointees, so in a way, regulations flow from politics. Republicans typically view the costs of climate regulation as outweighing the benefits, and Democrats anticipate exceptionally large future climate damages that justify high-cost regulations in the near term.

Read more from the R Street Institute here.

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