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Catherine Wolfram

@cwolfram.bsky.social
4.2K followers 160 following 267 posts

Climate and energy economist at MIT Sloan. Former DAS at Yellen Treasury.

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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
We start with steel, aluminum, cement and fertilizer and find meaningful emission reductions and substantial public revenues. Stay tuned for our next report, out Sept. 8, which sets out a practical framework for how to operationalize cooperation across different carbon-pricing systems.
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
To date, the mortality effects of wildfire smoke came in as the second largest category of harm, behind only rising insurance and related flood costs.
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
The 2nd, from Global Climate Policy Project at Harvard and MIT's flagship “Building a Climate Coalition” report from Sept ‘25, shows that when you zero in on the #cbam sectors and add carbon pricing policies enacted but not yet in force (e.g., Brazil and India), over 80% of emissions are covered!!
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
A 🧵on two of my all-time favorite charts. The 1st, just published by the @iea.org in the “State of Energy Policy 2026” report shows that more than half of industrial CO2 emissions are now covered by carbon pricing. Reports linked below.
The share of industrial emissions covered by a carbon price increased dramatically in 2025 to 58%.
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
Here’s an interesting fact about the Venezuelan oil and gas sector: it’s ridiculously, off-the-charts dirty when it comes to methane emissions. In some earlier work, we had to change the scale to show Venezuela’s methane emissions per unit of energy produced.
Figure showing methane emissions intensity by country, with Venezuela at the top by far.
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
💡It recognizes that by collaborating, countries can drive greater ambition.
Figure showing that a coalition could drive 7x as many emission reductions as the current policy baseline.
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
💡It underscores the importance of carbon pricing in tackling climate change and reminds us that many countries outside of the U.S. are adopting it, especially for heavy industries. E.g., from our recent report: ceepr.mit.edu/wp-content/u...
Figure showing that 82% of heavy industry emissions are already covered by carbon pricing initiatives.
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Curious to hear from others who subscribe to Carbon Pulse. I see a fair number of headlines I’d like to click through to, like the one below, but the subscription price is steep! Worth it? #climatesky
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
C. Price impacts on key materials would be modest, with minimal consumer effects. D. A graduated approach would allow low- and middle-income countries to join fairly, backed by technology transfer, finance, and capacity-building.
Bar chart showing that with a graduated carbon price approach, output may increase in low- and low-middle-income countries.
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Using 2 models, our analysis shows that: A. A climate coalition could cut emissions 7x more than current policies — equal to Canada’s annual emissions. B. It could raise nearly $200 billion per year in revenues, mostly from domestic carbon pricing.
Bar charts showing that carbon pricing yields ~$200 B in domestic revenues, much more than CBAM revenues.
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
We build on two important facts: 1. Over 80% of emissions in the steel, cement, aluminum and fertilizers industries are _already_ covered by existing or planned carbon pricing systems. 2. These industries account for over 20% of global carbon emissions.
Pie chart showing that 82% of carbon emissions are already covered by carbon pricing (planned and existing) in the steel, aluminum, cement and fertilizers industries.
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
The report was released in conjunction with the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (#FFD4). The final report is scheduled for September.
Photo of the FFD4 conference location.
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Jaylen Brown keynoting MIT's Day of Climate and @knittelmit.bsky.social gets to do the closing remarks. Pretty cool! dayofclimate.mit.edu/events/day-o...
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Brings to mind this map from Jing Li at Tufts. From 2015, but perhaps still relevant. Hint: Tesla is orange. jingli-econ.github.io/documents/pa...
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
The figure below from EIA blew me away. It suggests that growth in passenger miles from 2- & 3-wheelers (~motorbikes) will be >> than growth in passenger miles in light-duty vehicles (~cars). Question for #energysky: How much fuel is currently consumed globally by motorbikes versus cars?
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
This is off-the-charts high. During the 2020 fires, the Bay Area rarely got above an AWI of 300, as I recall. And those were the blackout sun days
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
So, oil and gas companies have a lot more incentive to lobby against climate policy, plus a lot more influence to throw around.
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
And, yes, I “had” to come to Barbados for this!
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Wonderful IMF Caribbean conference with climate luminaries Kristalina Georgieva, Mia Motley and @jasonbordoff.bsky.social. Strong call to action from Motley.
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
In a recent policy brief, @kclausing.bsky.social and @rffresources.bsky.social colleagues and I point to the role of the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism in this momentum. www.rff.org/publications...
New carbon pricing programs since EU began discussing CBAM.
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
And, more good to come. Planned carbon pricing regimes will increase this share by 7 percentage points over the next few years, an increase of about a third!
Projected share of GHG emissions subject to a positive explicit carbon price.
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Catherine Wolfram @cwolfram.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
First, the good. 42% of emissions in the countries they study (=80% of world emissions) are now covered by either an explicit carbon price (27%) or an implicit price (like an excise tax on fossil fuels).
Share of emissions covered by carbon pricing.
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