The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, produced a net economic impact of $1.4 billion for its 10 member states, including Connecticut, between 2015 and 2017, according to a new analysis from an economic consulting firm.
Boston-based Analysis Group said in a study released Tuesday that RGGI’s economic benefits held steady, even as it lowered the amount of pollution power plants were allowed to emit.
“Some observers had wondered whether tightening emissions targets would choke off the modest but consistent stream of economic benefits the region has seen since RGGI went into
effect in 2009,” said Paul Hibbard, a principal with Analysis Group. “But that didn’t happen: economic benefits and job creation continued, at magnitudes similar to what we’ve seen in previous study periods.”
RGGI, a regional cap-and-trade program that sets limits on power plant emissions and charges owners for the right to pollute, is mainly meant to lower greenhouse gases, but its positive economic impacts are a secondary effect, the authors noted.
The report also found that RGGI more than $220 million in consumer energy bill savings, because the states invest much of the money in energy efficiency programs. RGGI is a net cost for power plants, however.
Over the two-year period analyzed in the report, RGGI auctions generated $901 million in payments to the 10 states, including nearly $62 million for Connecticut, the report said.