Building Political Support for Carbon Pricing

How can governments build political support for carbon pricing? This question has challenged policy designers since the earliest programs imposing new prices on pollution, and is currently a pressing issue for Canadian governments trying to create and maintain carbon pricing programs. This brief offers a few insights on strategies for building greater political support for carbon pricing, based on previous experiences with successful programs in the U.S. and abroad. The take home message? Long running carbon pricing programs tend to generate tangible public benefits beyond emissions reductions that are distributed among citizens in a way that is broadly perceived as fair.