Competitive Enterprise Institute Aims To Debunk Kigali Climate Deal
Washington Examiner cited CEI’s Senior Fellow Ben Lieberman on Kigali Ammendment.
The free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute launched a counter-strike Tuesday morning against business and environmental groups looking to keep the U.S. a part of the United Nations’ Kigali climate agreement that the Obama administration signed onto.
The libertarian think tank’s senior fellow Ben Lieberman issued a brief on Tuesday that seeks to debunk what proponents of the agreement say are its positive economic advantages.
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“Granted, a relative few refrigerant makers stand to gain, particularly the two that have patented costly substitutes for which they hope to secure a captive market via Kigali,” the brief reads. “Thus, certain companies may expand hiring in response to the windfall they expect to get under Kigali, but that windfall would be at the expense of their competitors, so the overall jobs impact in the refrigeration and air-conditioning sector is likely to be a wash.”
Lieberman also argues that the deal would raise the cost of household appliances like refrigerators and air conditioners by hundreds and thousands of dollars, without generating money-saving efficiency improvements. “You cannot improve efficiency by restricting refrigerant choice; you can only compromise it,” writes Lieberman.