Sarah Woodhouse Murdock serves as a Senior Policy Advisor on the Climate Change Initiative team spending her time focused on policy, advocacy, communications, education related activities and executing projects that inform our policy work. For the past ten years, Ms. Woodhouse Murdock served as a consultant working with environmental and energy clients to develop strategic solutions to government, regulatory and community outreach challenges. Get Involved!   You can learn more and explore new places when you join the Conservancy's online community and build your own personalized nature page. "Not only does RGGI provide a framework for reducing greenhouse gases, the revenues generated by the auctions will support other climate related initiatives, like energy efficiency and renewable energy development." — Sarah Woodhouse Murdock, climate change manager for The Nature Conservancy. Go Deeper Adapting to Climate Change: People and nature can actually adapt to the impacts of climate change. Find out how the Conservancy is developing strategies to do so. What's Your Footprint: Use The Nature Conservancy's carbon footprint calculator to measure your carbon footprint - and find out what you can do to shrink it. Don't Forget to Offset: You can help reduce the impacts of climate change and restore critical wildlife habitat by participating in The Nature Conservancy’s voluntary carbon offset program. What Do You Think: Tell us what you think about our climate change work. What do you think are the biggest impacts of climate change?

In 2003, former New York State Governor George Pataki sent a letter to the governors of Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states seeking "to develop a strategy that will help the region lead the nation in the effort to fight global climate change." 

On Wednesday, December 17, 2008, New York’s lead on this issue finally came full circle.

This date marks New York's first auction of carbon permits under RGGI (Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative), the region’s landmark carbon-reducing program that is widely expected to influence US climate change legislation in 2009.

Sarah Murdock, climate change manager for The Nature Conservancy, explains RGGI’s role in the fight against climate change.

nature.org: Why is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative – or “RGGI” – considered such a milestone?

Sarah Murdock: RGGI is redefining the way America approaches climate change. Climate change is the greatest threat to us and our natural areas over the next century. If we don’t act now, we will leave a much larger problem to our children. 

The good news is that if we join together to take action to mitigate climate change, we can reduce its impact on us and on future generations. New York and the other nine states that are participating in RGGI have done just that: they have agreed to set a limit — and ultimately reduce — the amount of carbon dioxide their power generators emit.

nature.org: How does RGGI help them do that?

Sarah Murdock: RGGI is a market-based program. Through a series of auctions, RGGI sells credits to power generators. Each credit is worth one ton of carbon dioxide. Power generators must purchase a credit for each ton they emit. 

The idea is that by requiring power plants to buy credits, their operators will have a financial incentive to reduce emissions.


nature.org: What happens if a power plant doesn’t use all the credits they purchased? Or if a plant emits more carbon dioxide than its credits allow?

Sarah Murdock: Generators that cut emissions below their limits — through measures like energy conservation and investments in renewable energy — can then sell the credits they have not used to other generators. On the other hand, if they emit more carbon than they have credits for, they must pay a fine.
 

nature.org: Where does the money raised through the auction go?

Sarah Murdock: That’s another great thing about RGGI. Not only does it provide a framework for reducing greenhouse gases, the revenues generated by the auctions will support other climate related initiatives, like energy efficiency and renewable energy development.

These investments in turn will lead to even further emissions reductions. And investment in energy efficiency will bring the greatest energy savings to consumers. It’s a win-win for everybody.

Some states — like New York — are using a portion of the revenue for climate change adaptation.
 

nature.org: What’s that?

Sarah Murdock: Adaptation is the effort to protect nature’s infrastructure in the face of climate change, which is already affecting our lives and the places we live. 

In New York, as global temperatures increase, we can expect sea level rise along the Hudson River and on Long Island threaten communities, causing billions in property losses. That’s why it’s vital that we anticipate and help humans and nature adapt to these expected changes. 
 
nature.org: Can you give an example of adaptation?

Sarah Murdock: Wetlands are an excellent natural resource. They provide a natural buffer to storm damage and floods, and also deliver nutrients for native plants, fish and wildlife. Protecting wetlands will be critical on Long Island along the Hudson River.

Good forest management will also be an important adaptation strategy. That’s because as temperature rise, we can expect plant and animal species to migrate, so we have to make sure they have a place to go by connecting pieces of isolated forests. We’re already doing this in the Adirondacks and Tug Hill.

Scientists are also predicting more extreme weather, in the form of violent thunderstorms, floods, and prolonged draughts. These types of extremes weather take a heavy toll on nature and populated areas. We have to make sure the mechanisms are in place to mitigate the impact of these extremes. Restoring floodplains is another type of coping mechanism.


nature.org: So we’ve got RGGI in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. What’s next?

Sarah Murdock: This series of auctions is the first of its kind in the U.S. They will be watched closely around the country as a potential model for a national program. We could see the rest of the country following this example, which would be a huge step toward emissions reductions.
 

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Carl Heilman II (Montauk); Photo © TNC (Sarah Murdock); Photo © Carl Heilman II (Adirondacks).