What Went Wrong for TCI? Political Economy and Pricing Transportation Emissions

Abstract

"This paper follows the Institutional Framework for Policy Analysis and Design to analyze the policy development process of the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). TCI is a regional cap-and-trade program to reduce emissions in the transportation sector. However, in the fall of 2021, the program fell apart. This paper investigates why the number of participating jurisdictions in TCI dropped from 14 to four, and most recently, from four to zero."