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When the Alberta government rolled out a carbon tax plan in 2015, the province witnessed a strange sight: Oil company executives flanking premier Rachel Notley as she announced a policy that would cost their companies a ton of money.

So, why did they do it?

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A new paper from New York University economist Amanda Kennard shows that these firms aren’t just lobbying for environmental regulations out of the goodness of their corporate hearts: it’s a calculated bet that their competitors will be worse off, allowing them to gain an advantage. For example, if a company’s competitors are heavily reliant on coal, it will be far more likely to lobby for environmental regulations.

The paper also takes aim at the most common explanation for this kind of corporate behaviour: that companies encourage federal lawmakers to harmonize environmental policy across the country to give them certainty and predictability when it comes to costs. Kennard argues that this just isn’t borne out by the data. In fact, differences across various provinces and states could actually benefit certain companies, relative to their competition.