Long-Delayed Carbon Metric Debated on Capitol Hill and in Courts

A powerful policy tool that puts a price tag on greenhouse gases has reemerged as a flashpoint in the courts and in Congress, the latest development in an ideological tug-of-war that has played out for most of the Biden administration.

The White House has been developing updated estimates for the tool, known as the social cost of carbon, since the day President Joe Biden took office. The metric is a dollar estimate of the harm to the economy caused by releasing one ton of planet-warming carbon dioxide, taking into account such variables as lost agricultural productivity, property damages from strong ...