Our Carbon Pricing Calculator allows users to compare the environmental and economic impacts of current legislative proposals (updated as of September 2019) that place a price on carbon, as well as a custom user-specified carbon tax path.

The measurement dropdown allows users to select a dimension of impact to consider: annual emissions, annual revenues, carbon price, cumulative emissions, percentage change to consumer prices by 2030, GDP, or the change in the average household’s wealth in the first year of the policy by household income (in quintiles). Annual and cumulative emissions refer specifically to energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.

The custom carbon pricing design section of the tool allows users to specify their own carbon tax path. The custom design data series displays once a user has selected an Initial Tax Per Metric Ton, Tax Growth Rate, and method of Revenue Recycling.

The data series section allows the user to toggle on and off existing policy designs to display in the tool. By default, no existing policy designs display; these can be viewed by clicking on a policy name. The business as usual data series, which is displayed by default, shows the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) 2019 Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) reference case, which assumes current laws and regulations affecting the energy sector are unchanged throughout the projection period, and thus that no federal US carbon pricing policy is in place.

In the top right corner of the tool, users can toggle between chart and table view and download the images or data. See the Sharing Our Work section below for important information about sharing any information from this calculator.