Economists generally agree that climate change is best addressed by putting a price on the carbon content of fossil fuels, whether by taxing carbon, cap-and-trade systems, or other methods. But do political realities render carbon pricing impracticable?

University of Michigan professor Barry Rabe will draw on real-world attempts to price carbon to analyze its feasibility and sustainability in a free public lecture Thursday, March 21.

Titled “Can We Price Carbon?” the event is set for 2:30 p.m. in room 200, Toldo Health Education Centre. It is part of the Distinguished Speakers Series on Global Environmental Governance, sponsored by the UWindsor departments of political science and earth and environmental sciences.

Dr. Rabe is the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor of Public Policy and director of the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; and Arthur Thurnau Professor of Environmental Policy. He is the first social scientist to receive a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Climate Protection Award for his use of scholarship to advance policymaking.

MIT Press published his book Can We Price Carbon? in spring 2018.