PROGRAM OVERVIEW
CSE uses its economic, scientific and legal expertise to develop innovative policy solutions to some of humanity’s most tenacious challenges. We work on market based solutions as well as new or amended regulatory approaches. We work with partners to develop solutions that are internationally applicable but tailored to institutions that operate at the local level. We have successfully fought for changes in public policies to protect at risk forests, farmland, wetlands, and wildlife habitat, halt new fossil fuel infrastructure, change priorities for public finance and help alleviate the growing inequality divide through affordable housing and living wages. Our policy work takes two basic forms:
- Model legislation – CSE works with partners and legislators at the national, state, and local levels to draft model laws, resolutions, ordinances that speed the transition to a sustainable society and halt new projects or programs that accelerate climate change, extinction and poverty.
- Regulatory reform – CSE works within the administrative processes of federal, state, and local public agencies to update regulations, rules, and guidance manuals to better reflect legislative intent, best available science and best practice.
PROGRAM NEWS AND UPDATES

Forest Carbon Tax and Reward: Creating more jobs and carbon in the woods.
Deforestation, forest degradation, and unsustainable forest practices are major drivers of climate change. Deforestation and other land-use changes have released approximately 150 gigatons of carbon to the atmosphere since 1850, roughly one-fifth of the current atmospheric total. The contributions from forest degradation (i.e. converting real forests into tree plantations) and ... Read More

Fossil Fuel Risk Bonds: Making Polluters Pay for the Climate Crisis
One of the most aggravating aspects of the climate crisis is the fact that fossil fuel companies are passing on huge financial risks to taxpayers and politicians are simply turning their backs on the problem instead of holding those companies accountable. At each stage of the fossil fuel product life ... Read More

New Policy Innovation Would Force Fossil Fuel Companies to Pay for Their Risky Behavior
For Immediate Release June 3, 2016 Press calls: Dr. John Talberth, president and senior economist, CSE: 510-384-5724 (Portland, OR) Hours after an oil train car derailment near the Columbia River in Mosier, OR, with at least one oil tank car on fire, it was too soon to tell how much this accident would ... Read More