ICF set out to review the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) program, an innovative cap-and-trade program that places limits on the overall emission levels for CO2, but allows the affected states to find cost-effective emission reductions through an allowance trading market. This section of the report specifically dealt with the results that were produced by the REMI model. The analysis implemented two broad sets of inputs to model the economic impacts of changes made to the policy, with everything being modeled at the individual state level and the rest of the United States. The results showed that the RGGI region would initially see slight negative economic impacts from the Model Rule Policy Scenario (MRPS) case cap reduction, but quickly grow to small but consistent economic benefits. Although the effect of the RGGI cap decline is generally negative, the cumulative effect is positive due to the total benefits of the allowance proceeds reinvestments.
